Overview
- The Guardian published audio from a 14 March Conservative Association dinner in which Robert Jenrick described Birmingham’s Handsworth as near a slum and said he didn’t see another white face during a 90‑minute visit.
- On Tuesday, Jenrick told BBC Radio 5 Live he had no regrets and, in a Sky News interview, linked failures of integration to last week’s terror attack at a north Manchester synagogue.
- Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch defended him as making a factual observation and said concerns about fragmentation are legitimate, rejecting claims the remarks were racist.
- Critics including the Bishop of Birmingham, former West Midlands mayor Andy Street and Labour’s David Lammy denounced the language as wrong or divisive, while current mayor Richard Parker called it racist.
- Senior Conservatives showed splits, with Mel Stride saying those were not words he would use, as ONS data cited in coverage shows Handsworth is about 9% white and local leaders pointed to factors like a recent bin strike.