Overview

• Leaked audio records Robert Jenrick saying he "didn't see another white face" during a 90‑minute visit to Handsworth in March and calling it "not the kind of country" he wants to live in.
• The comments, made at a 14 March Aldridge‑Brownhills Conservative Association dinner after a GB News filming trip, also described the area as "as close as I've come to a slum" and poorly integrated.
• Labour chair Anna Turley said people of colour should not have to justify their Britishness and urged Jenrick to explain himself, while local figures Ayoub Khan and Khalid Mahmood condemned the remarks as divisive.
• Former West Midlands mayor Andy Street said Jenrick was "wrong" about Handsworth, calling it a successfully integrated place, and council statistics show the area is majority non‑white with about 9% white residents.
• Jenrick declined formal comment through a spokesperson but a close source said he was talking about integration, and he later said he would not shy away from the issue as he prepares a conference speech setting out plans to scrap the Sentencing Council.