Badenoch defends Jenrick over comments that he ‘did not see another white face’ in Birmingham
Nugent asks about this Guardian story about Robert Jenrick.
Q: Jenrick talks about wanting people to be properly accurate. Do you approve of that?
Badenoch says, given it is the Guardian, she will take it with “a pinch of salt”. She says:
Given that it’s The Guardian, I think I’m going to take some of that with a pinch of salt.
They haven’t always been the most accurate newspaper.
She suggests the quotes might have been taken out of context.
I don’t know what was being discussed before he said that. But in and of itself, it’s a factual statement.
If he said he didn’t see another white face, he might have been making an observation. There’s nothing wrong with making observations.
But what he and I both agree with is that there are not enough people integrating. There are many people who are creating separate communities. I’m very worried.
Q: So you agree with his concerns?
Badenoch says:
Well, I wasn’t there, so I can’t say how many faces he saw, but the point is that there are many people in our country who are not integrating. I heard that one of the MPs of that area was accusing him of racism. I completely disagree with that. I want to make that very clear. In fact, I’m quite worried about these sectarian MPs who’ve been elected in Birmingham, very, very divisive politics, people who are more interested in talking about Gaza.
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Updated at 10.27 CEST
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Jenrick defends ‘didn’t see another white face’ comment, saying he was making case for integrated communities
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has also been giving interviews this morning, and he has defended the comments about Handsworth reported by the Guardian that have been described as racist.
I want to live in a country which is well integrated. I want people to be living side-by-side, I never want to see segregated or even ghettoised communities. We want people of all skin colours, of all religions, to be living in harmonious, well-integrated communities with our kids growing up alongside each other.
And I’m afraid in certain parts of the country, there are communities where that just isn’t the case, and parts of Handsworth in Birmingham, where I was earlier in the year, a place I know quite well, growing up in the West Midlands, just don’t resemble that. That makes me very worried.
He defended mentioning colour. Speaking on Radio 5 Live, he pointed out that the comments reported in the Guardian included him saying: “It’s not about the colour of your skin or your faith, of course it isn’t. But I want people to be living alongside each other, not parallel lives.” Asked, if that was the case, why he had mentioned colour, he replied:
Because it’s incredibly important that we have a fully integrated society regardless of the colour of their skin or the faith that they abide by.
I think it’s a very dangerous place if we have a country where people are living in ghettoised communities where people are not living together side by side in harmonious communities.
There are real dangers if we don’t live in a well-integrated community, then this can lead to serious, serious challenges.
Look, just the other day here in Manchester, we saw a man who had lived in this country for 30 years, but was clearly not integrated into our society, clearly did not share British values, committing an appalling terrorist attack by going to a synagogue and killing British Jews. That is, at the extreme level, where failures of integration lead, and that’s why we’ve got to have a debate about this, and not have it shut down whenever anyone puts their head above the parapet and talks about it publicly.
I think that’s an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous comment. I tell you what gives rise to extremist views, with all due respect, journalists like yourself, trying to shut down legitimate and fair debate. What you are implying is that you can’t say comments like that.
Unlike Badenoch (see 7.41am and 9.03am), he did not claim that his comments had not been accurately reported by the Guardian.
Robert Jenrick being interviewed this morning. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianShare
Parker says Jenrick’s comments were racist because he focused on colour to make negative point about Handsworth
In his interview on BBC Radio WM, Richard Parker, the Labour mayor of the West Midlands, was asked if he thought Robert Jenrick’s comments about Handsworth were racist. Parker replied:
I do. Because he’s set out intentionally to draw on a particular issue – people’s colour – to identify the point he wanted to make.
No other politician that I know in the West Midlands of a mainstream party would seek to do that explicitly and with the intent that he did.
The issue for me is that rather than reflect on the positive aspects of that community … he wanted to draw on a particular issue of ethnicity and colour. I think that is simply wrong.
It shows a lack of respect and understanding for those communities. And I doubt whether or not if he went to a largely white community anywhere in the West Midlands he’d be making a comment similar to what he made about Handsworth.
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Labour West Midlands mayor Richard Parker suggests Jenrick should be thrown out of Tory party over Handsworth comments
Richard Parker, the Labour mayor of the West Midlands, has condemned Robert Jenrick for his comments about Handsworth. According to PA Media, Parker said he considered Jenrick’s comments about Handsworth racist and questioned he would have made equivalent remarks about a predominantly white area.
Speaking to BBC Radio WM, Parker said:
I’m angry, I’m appalled. Frankly, I’m disgusted and I want everyone to know in Handsworth – and I’ve got many friends in Handsworth – that I will stand up for you.
Handsworth is a really vibrant community with lots of faiths and ethnicities working together and living together. The Soho Road is one of the most vibrant and successful high streets anywhere in the country.
Claiming Jenrick had defined people by the colour of their skin “with intent and with a real purpose” and gone to Handsworth without reflecting on the positive contribution local people make to Birmingham, Parker said:
That’s terribly disappointing. That raises serious questions about whether someone like Robert Jenrick should be allowed to be even a member of the Conservative party.
I think there are serious issues now for Kemi Badenoch to discuss with Robert Jenrick and senior members of the Conservative party about whether someone like Jenrick should be allowed to stand and sit as a Conservative politician.
Andy Street, Parker’s Tory predecessor as mayor, has also condemned Jenrick’s comments. (See 8.13am.)
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Badenoch accepts corporate lobbyists have stayed away from Tory conference
I have beefed up the post at 7.45am with fuller quotes from Kemi Badenoch in response to claims that the Tory conference feels empty (which it does) because so few people are here.
One point Badenoch made was that corporate lobbyists are staying away. That is true too; there is no point lobbying a party if you don’t think it will be in government.
Badenoch said:
A lot of the people who came just because we were in government, the corporate lobbyists, yes, they’re not there, but our members are here. This is one of the first conferences I’ve been to where it has really felt like the members owned it, and I’m really proud of that.
I have updated some of the other earlier posts too with direct quotes from the interviews. You may need to refresh the page to get those updates to appear.
Kemi Badenoch being interviewed by LBC. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPAShareKemi Badenoch being interviewed on Times Radio this morning. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PAShare
Q: What would you say to Robert Jenrick about his Handworth comments?
Badenoch says those comments were taken out of context.
But she and Jenrick are both worried about integration not going far enough.
She attacks Birmingham Labour politicians again, accusing them of being sectarian.
Q: Is it true that the national anthem has been axed from the final day of conference?
Badenoch says they sang the national anthem on Sunday. She says she does not know where the story came from.
(But she should have been able to guess – GB News, of course.)
Badenoch suggests they will sing it tomorrow.
And that is the end of Badenoch’s interview round.
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Q: How would you grade your time as leader so far?
Badenoch replies: “Difficult.”
She says she was worried about the party splitting. And it’s finances were in a poor state. She has addressed both problem.
Q: Your party cannot even spell Britain properly?
Badenoch says that was a typo. It is “fatuous” to pretend that is the same as running government.
That is a reference to this story.
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Q: How many civil service jobs under your plans to cut spending there by £8bn?
Badenoch says it would be “a lot”. She does not have the number.
Q: What are the figures if you cut numbers back to pro-2016 levels.
Badenoch says she does not have the figures to hand.
Q: These are people’s jobs. You should know.
Badenoch says if a job should not exist, there is no point keeping it.
She says most of the Tory savings will come from welfare cuts.
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Q: How much personal responsibility do you take for the failures of the last government on immigration?
Badenoch says she was not in the Home Office. As business secretary, she pushed for policies to bring down immigration.
But they must take collective responsibility, she says.
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Badenoch suggests Reform UK defectors are joining party that backs higher spending
Asked about defections, Badenoch says she wants people in her party “for the right reasons”.
People joining Reform UK are joining a party in favour of higher spending.
UPDATE: Badenoch said:
What we are doing is shedding a lot of the baggage of the last 14 years. I remember last year we had people defecting to Labour because Labour was doing well in the polls. Now we have people defecting to Reform because Reform is doing well in the polls.
We need people who are in our party for the right reasons.
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Updated at 10.38 CEST
Badenoch claims poll suggesting half of Tory members want her replaced ‘not accurate’
Nick Ferrari from LBC is interviewing Kemi Badenoch now.
Q: A poll yesterday said half of members want you to stand down. What would you say to them?
Badenoch says he is not bother. She claims a poll before the leadership contest last year said she would lose. She says “these polls are not accurate”.
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Q: What was the mistake the Tories made? Tax? Inflation? The Liz Truss budget? Immigration?
Badenoch says Reid did not listen to her speech on Sunday, where she addressed all this.
Balls says he can sense Badenoch’s frustation. Badenoch laughs. She says she is having a good conference. She says Balls is trying to rile him.
Q: Why don’t you tell Robert Jenrick to get back in his box?
Badenoch says Jenrick is a valued member of a strong team.
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Badenoch brushes off announcement from Reform UK about another councillor defection from Tories
Reid asks about another defection. She is referring to this annoucement from Reform UK.
Rushcliffe councillor Debbie Soloman has joined Reform UK, saying only Nigel Farage’s party have the answers to the biggest problems facing the country.
Cllr Debbie Soloman has represented Newton on the council since 2023, and had previously been a member of the Conservative party. But she says “The Conservative party is over. Only Reform can deliver the change Britain needs’”.
Badenoch says it was always going to be a difficult journey back, and you lose some people along the way.
UPDATE: Badenoch said:
Reform is a party that wants to spend more on welfare. We know there’s some Conservatives who agree with those policies, on increased welfare, on nationalisation and if that’s what they think is right for them, then we’re sorry to lose them. But we need to make it very clear that we are the party of fiscal responsibility …
It’s going to be a long journey back from a historic defeat and on very long, difficult journeys you will lose some people on the way. But if these people cannot stick with us because opposition is difficult, then they’re not going to be able to stick with us when government gets difficult.
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Updated at 10.12 CEST
