‘Not phrases that I might have used’ – Mel Stride refuses to again Jenrick’s no white faces remark about Handsworth
Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, has stated that he wouldn’t have used the phrases that Robert Jenrick did about not seeing “one other white face” when he talked about visiting Handsworth in Birmingham.
Stride is the primary senior Tory on the convention to distance himself from Jenrick over the feedback, which Kemi Badenoch has been defending all in the present day.
At a Politico fringe assembly, requested by Anne McElvoy how he felt about Jenrick’s feedback, Stride replied:
These usually are not phrases that I might have used.
Having stated that, everyone chooses their very own phrases. It’s now being requested, does the truth that he stated that make him a racist? No, I don’t consider it does in any respect.
However I believe everyone chooses their very own phrases. And I’ll be frank and say they aren’t phrases that I might have chosen.
Share
Up to date at 11.26 EDT
Key occasions
10m in the past
Early night abstract
43m in the past
Michael Heseltine suggests axing Local weather Change Act can be ‘act of unforgiveable irresponsibility’ by Tories
1h in the past
James Cleverly admits he isn’t ruling out bid to be Tory mayor of London in 2028
2h in the past
Ed Davey says Jenrick speech reveals Tories need ‘puppet judges’ and now not again rule of legislation
2h in the past
Handsworth’s MP Ayoub Khan calls on Jenrick to apologise for ‘harmful’ remarks
2h in the past
‘Not phrases that I might have used’ – Mel Stride refuses to again Jenrick’s no white faces remark about Handsworth
2h in the past
Tories name for zero tolerance method to violence in faculties, with pupils completely excluded if they convey in knife
3h in the past
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge criticises Farage for being anti-Nato
4h in the past
Jenrick’s assault on judges ‘severe mistake’, says former supreme courtroom justice Lord Sumption
5h in the past
Jenrick says he didn’t point out Reform UK in his speech ‘as a result of I do not obsess about them’
5h in the past
Inexperienced chief Zack Polanski says Jenrick’s feedback about Handsworth had been racist
5h in the past
Lammy accuses Jenrick of ‘democratic backsliding’ due to Tory threats to judicial independence
5h in the past
Jenrick’s convention speech – snap verdict
6h in the past
Jenrick claims ‘collapse of outdated order is in sight’ as he urges Tories to battle for ‘new order’
6h in the past
Jenrick says folks of Britain have ‘had sufficient’
6h in the past
Jenrick says he admires Heseltine for his combative method to Labour in Thatcher period
6h in the past
Jenrick claims he has ‘uncovered dozens of judges’ biased in favour of migrants
6h in the past
Jenrick compares legal professional common, Lord Hermer, to mafia lawyer, and calls him ‘helpful fool for our enemies’
6h in the past
Jenrick begins speech with joke about how little time Liz Truss lasted as PM
7h in the past
Farage claims Tory celebration ‘completed’, after Reform UK pronounces 20 councillor defections
7h in the past
Chris Philp says Tories would enable cease and search with out grounds for suspicion in crime hotspot areas
7h in the past
Reform UK places out a number of bulletins about councillor defections from Tories, with greater than 12 switching already
7h in the past
Badenoch accepts EU may droop legal legislation enforcement cooperation if UK leaves ECHR
8h in the past
Jenrick defends ‘did not see one other white face’ remark, saying he was making case for built-in communities
9h in the past
Parker says Jenrick’s feedback had been racist as a result of he targeted on color to make damaging level about Handsworth
9h in the past
Labour West Midlands mayor Richard Parker suggests Jenrick ought to be thrown out of Tory celebration over Handsworth feedback
9h in the past
Badenoch accepts company lobbyists have stayed away from Tory convention
9h in the past
Badenoch suggests Reform UK defectors are becoming a member of celebration that backs greater spending
9h in the past
Badenoch claims ballot suggesting half of Tory members need her changed ‘not correct’
10h in the past
Badenoch brushes off announcement from Reform UK about one other councillor defection from Tories
10h in the past
Badenoch argues post-Brexit commerce cope with EU wouldn’t cease Tories leaving ECHR
10h in the past
Badenoch rejects declare she doesn’t know the place the 150,000 migrants Tories went to deport yearly will go
10h in the past
Badenoch claims Jenrick’s remark taken out of context, as she accepts folks shouldn’t be judged on color
10h in the past
Former Tory mayor Andy Avenue says Jenrick incorrect about Handsworth, saying it is ‘very built-in place’ and no slum
10h in the past
Badenoch dismisses case for pact with Reform UK, claiming Farage’s celebration needs extra spending and extra welfare
11h in the past
Badenoch says she thinks she is finest individual to be Tory chief
11h in the past
Badenoch condemns folks collaborating in Gaza protests in the present day, on 2nd anniversary of Hamas assault
11h in the past
Badenoch dismisses claims low turnout is drawback for Tory convention
11h in the past
Badenoch defends Jenrick over feedback that he ‘didn’t see one other white face’ in Birmingham
11h in the past
Badenoch rejects declare she has ditched plan to delay coverage bulletins till 2027 – saying she by no means stated that
11h in the past
Badenoch faces grilling over lack of assist from Tory members as convention continues
Present key occasions solely
Please activate JavaScript to make use of this characteristic
Early night abstract
I do consider it’s a racist remark. It’s the truth that he wasn’t speaking about anything [other than skin colour].
And I believe him attempting to now counsel it wasn’t about race, it was about integration, once more I discover troubling. As a result of when he talks about integration, what are the indications that he’s utilizing to evaluate that Handsworth isn’t built-in?
Colleagues that I’ve spoken to from that space are very clear in regards to the variety that exists there. You might have Pakistani folks dwelling there, Indian folks dwelling there, Black African, Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi folks dwelling there. I imply that’s the definition of integration.
Kemi Badenoch has stated lack of correct group integration may take Britain to “a really darkish place”. She has defended Jenrick, and in an interview with the BBC she claimed:
There are quite a few components of our nation now the place the identical story is occurring, and on the excessive ranges, an absence of integration leads us into a really darkish place as a rustic.
We’re right here in Manchester in the present day, every week on from a horrible terrorist assault the place a person who lived in our nation for 30 years clearly wasn’t properly built-in, clearly didn’t share British values as a result of he went on to homicide British Jews.
Kemi Badenoch has repeatedly avoiding saying whether or not or not she admires Nigel Farage. In a Sky Information interview, Beth Rigby requested her if she admired the Reform UK chief. Sky stories:
[Badenoch] responded first, “on what foundation”, then “I don’t perceive your query” and thirdly, “why aren’t you asking about Keir Starmer or Ed Davey?” Beth then defined that she additionally requested the prime minister about Farage through the Labour convention, and that he stated the Reform chief is “formidable”. Badenoch responded: “I believe it’s very attention-grabbing that loads of the media in Westminster may be very excited about asking about Nigel Farage. I’m not excited about Nigel Farage, I’m within the Conservative celebration.”
For a full record of all of the tales lined on the weblog in the present day, do scroll by the record of key occasion headlines close to the highest of the weblog.
Robert Jenrick after giving his speech to the Tory convention. {Photograph}: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianShare
Up to date at 13.13 EDT
Earlier I stated Sadiq Khan would positively be standing down as London mayor in 2028. (See 5.09am.) A reader factors out that Kahn gave an interview earlier than the Labour convention saying that he would stand for a fourth time period. I’m sorry for the error. However I’m instructed that when Khan gave that reply, he didn’t wish to say he can be standing down in case that triggered headlines about his desiring to problem Keir Starmer and many others (Andy Burnham was making headlines on the time), and there’s nonetheless an expectation that he’ll name it a day after three phrases.
Share
Up to date at 13.20 EDT
Michael Heseltine suggests axing Local weather Change Act can be ‘act of unforgiveable irresponsibility’ by Tories
Michael Heseltine, the previous deputy prime minister, was usually the star performer at Conservative celebration conferences within the Eighties and Nineties. Now he’s estranged from the Tory management (he hated Brexit), and he’s 92, however he was at convention in the present day giving a speech at European Motion fringe.
Heseltine stated he wished to see the election of one other Tory authorities. However he criticised two of the largest coverage bulletins on the convention.
On leaving the European conference on human rights, he stated:
In one in every of his most well-known speeches Winston Churchill at Zurich in 1946 referred to as for a Council of Europe and a Constitution of Human Rights. This nation was the primary to ratify the Constitution earlier than it got here into power in 1953. It was the primary legally binding worldwide human rights treaty.
The courtroom itself got here into existence in 1959 with the British Lord McNair as its first President. The UK has had a British decide ever since as one of many 46 judges representing the 46 signatories. Within the occasion {that a} case is introduced regarding the UK that British decide might be concerned within the proceedings.
If any modifications are required, the worst factor is to stroll out and switch our again on one of the civilised of European creations. The fitting manner is to comply with David Cameron’s instance and search change by settlement as he did in 2012 with the Brighton Declaration. It’s greater than doable that the widespread issues about asylum seekers throughout Europe would make assessment welcome to many signatories.
And on repealing the Local weather Change Act, he stated:
The menace from world warming should not be ignored within the hope that it could not occur or as a result of there’s a backlash in opposition to the price. The Local weather Change Act 2008 was ready by the conservative opposition led by David Cameron. So complete was the parliamentary assist that Gordon Brown agreed to just accept it as a authorities invoice which was handed with solely 5 dissenting votes. The act arrange the Local weather Change Committee. This committee has been supported by our celebration and certainly on its advice we handed into legislation the Web Zero goal by 2050. We ought to be pleased with our function within the battle to halt local weather change. It was Margaret Thatcher who gave one of many starkest and earliest warnings of the hazards. Right now the proof in storms, coastal erosion, flooding, hearth and the unfold of desert is all too clear. It could be an act of unforgivable irresponsibility to undo all that Conservatives have finished to play a number one function on this world threatening disaster.
Heseltine additionally condemned the demonisation of asylum seekers.
The overwhelming majority of asylum seekers wish to share in our requirements, and to flee from persecution or civil battle. To explain them as thieves or rapists isn’t just dishonest however encourages the worst form of prejudice in our communities. If you would like additional proof simply go to any a part of our well being companies, social companies, public or personal sector workplaces or academia.
Michael Heseltine at Tory convention in the present day. {Photograph}: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
James Cleverly admits he isn’t ruling out bid to be Tory mayor of London in 2028
James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, has confirmed that he’s serious about standing because the Tory candidate for London mayor in 2028.
In an interview with Adam Fleming for the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Cleverly stated he was primarily dedicated to his constituency in Essex (Braintree), however admitted that he was attracted by the prospect of the London job.
Requested if he fancied being London mayor, Cleverly replied:
The mayor of massive cities like London is an extremely necessary job.
We’ve already mentioned the massive distinction that Andy Avenue made to Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Look, I like being the mayor for Braintree [ie, MP for Braintree]. I’ve had so many individuals say, you, you chop your tooth in London politics. It’s a very, actually necessary job.
My coronary heart is in Essex, however I additionally know watching London go incorrect angers me enormously.
When Fleming stated that reply made it sound as if he was within the job, Cleverly replied:
Look I’d be silly not to consider it, however I say my coronary heart, my coronary heart’s in Essex.
Cleverly first held elected workplace as a member of the London meeting.
There was hypothesis about Cleverly attempting to get the Tory nomination for the election, which might be in 2028, for a while and yesterday he revived it with a convention speech that included a protracted passage attacking Sadiq Khan’s report on housing within the capital.
With Khan broadly anticipated to face down in 2028, and Labour very unpopular nationally, there’s a hypothesis {that a} mainstream/liberal Conservative like Cleverly may do properly within the election. Boris Johnson was elected mayor of London in 2008 on an analogous platform.
The complete interview might be accessible round 7pm tonight.
UPDATE: A reader factors out that Kahn gave an interview earlier than the Labour convention saying that he would stand for a fourth time period. Sorry; I used to be incorrect to say earlier that Khan would positively be standing down in 2028. However I’m instructed that when Khan gave that reply, he didn’t wish to say he can be standing down in case that triggered headlines about his desiring to problem Keir Starmer and many others (Andy Burnham was making headlines on the time), and there’s nonetheless an expectation that he’ll name it a day after three phrases. I’ve amended the wording within the put up above.
Share
Up to date at 13.19 EDT
Ed Davey says Jenrick speech reveals Tories need ‘puppet judges’ and now not again rule of legislation
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem chief, has stated that Robert Jenrick’s speech reveals that the Conservatives need “puppet judges” and are now not a celebration supporting the rule of legislation. He posted this on social media.
We’ve got an unbiased judiciary on this nation. Robert Jenrick needs puppet judges.
The Conservative Occasion as soon as believed within the rule of legislation and our shared British values – now not.
Share
Handsworth’s MP Ayoub Khan calls on Jenrick to apologise for ‘harmful’ remarks
Sundus Abdi
Sundus Abdi is a Guardian reporter.
Ayoub Khan, the unbiased MP who represents Handsworth, has accused Robert Jenrick of constructing “harmful” and “divisive” feedback about integration.
Talking from Soho Highway in Handsworth, Khan instructed BirminghamLive:
To counsel integration is in regards to the color of your pores and skin shouldn’t be solely disingenuous – it’s harmful, it’s divisive.
He stated Jenrick “obtained nothing proper” in regards to the space, including that the shadow justice secretary had solely spent “about 9 minutes” in Handsworth earlier this 12 months, throughout a go to targeted on garbage and fly tipping.
Khan, whose Birmingham Perry Barr constituency covers Handsworth, added: “We all know we’ve had bin strikes, we all know employees usually are not getting their justifiable share and having to take losses of £8,000 on common.”
Khan additionally criticised Tory chief Kemi Badenoch for supporting Jenrick’s feedback, saying she “ought to have taken a really totally different view”. He added:
While you deliver race right into a dialogue, you’re fuelling hatred and division.We’ve got seen incidents the place hate crime has elevated and folks like Robert Jenrick, and his feedback, usually are not welcome.
Ayoub Khan {Photograph}: Ayoub KhanShare
Up to date at 11.41 EDT
‘Not phrases that I might have used’ – Mel Stride refuses to again Jenrick’s no white faces remark about Handsworth
Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, has stated that he wouldn’t have used the phrases that Robert Jenrick did about not seeing “one other white face” when he talked about visiting Handsworth in Birmingham.
Stride is the primary senior Tory on the convention to distance himself from Jenrick over the feedback, which Kemi Badenoch has been defending all in the present day.
At a Politico fringe assembly, requested by Anne McElvoy how he felt about Jenrick’s feedback, Stride replied:
These usually are not phrases that I might have used.
Having stated that, everyone chooses their very own phrases. It’s now being requested, does the truth that he stated that make him a racist? No, I don’t consider it does in any respect.
However I believe everyone chooses their very own phrases. And I’ll be frank and say they aren’t phrases that I might have chosen.
Share
Up to date at 11.26 EDT
Tories name for zero tolerance method to violence in faculties, with pupils completely excluded if they convey in knife
Laura Trott, the shadow schooling secretary, proposed a zero tolerance method to violence in faculties in her speech to the convention this morning. This may contain a presumption that pupils who deliver a knife to high school ought to be completely excluded.
She defined:
We are able to’t draw back from setting clear boundaries, for excluding pupils after they have been extraordinarily violent or are carrying a knife.
This isn’t about giving up on these kids. It’s truly the alternative.
Kids should study that actions have penalties. That’s simply how the world works.
So, beneath the Conservatives, our coverage is straightforward: one knife and you’re out.
In case you assault a trainer then you’re out.
In case you sexually assault somebody then you’re out.
In case you’ve been expelled from not only one however two mainstream faculties, then it’s clear, mainstream lecture rooms aren’t for you.
If kids deliver knives into the classroom, then they shouldn’t be there.
If they’re violent, then they shouldn’t be there.
And beneath the Conservatives, they gained’t be there.
Laura Trott on the convention this morning. {Photograph}: Temilade Adelaja/ReutersShare
Throughout his Q&A at a Telegraph fringe, the Telegraph author Tim Stanley requested Robert Jenrick about his Handsworth feedback and recommended that if he had gone someplace “mono-culturally white”, he wouldn’t be commenting on the absence of black or brown faces.
Because the Telegraph stories, Jenrick replied:
The left do, ‘decolonise the countryside’, ‘decolonise the Nationwide Belief’… What I stated is it not in regards to the color of your pores and skin or your religion. My level is that we don’t wish to have communities the place they don’t mirror the breadth of the individuals who stay in our nation. I believe it’s self-evidently true.
Not solely I believe is that dangerous as a result of we wish to stay in a rustic the place there’s a sturdy sense of togetherness, however on the excessive it leads us down a really harmful path.
Share
A former Tory MP who joined the Ukrainian navy’s overseas legion has referred to as on the federal government to be “a bit extra constructive” about British folks volunteering to battle, PA Media stories. PA says:
Jack Lopresti, who was the MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke from 2010 to 2024, misplaced his seat within the July election.
Talking on the convention, Lopresti stated: “It additionally needs to be stated that we’d like folks. And I believe the federal government ought to be a bit extra constructive about volunteers.
“In my opinion, for those who’ve obtained navy expertise and also you’re a veteran and also you wish to go and assist in Ukraine, you need to be inspired to take action, as a result of we’re beginning to get actually stretched.”
Share
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge criticises Farage for being anti-Nato
James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, used his speech to the Tory convention to accuse Nigel Farage of anti-Nato.
He stated:
There are those that declare that Nigel Farage’s celebration are the true conservatives, however allow us to remind ourselves what occurred when Putin launched his all-out invasion.
On that day, what did Farage do? Whose aspect was he on as our continent was abruptly threatened with battle for the primary time since 1945? That day, he selected accountable Nato for upsetting Putin.
What did we try this day? As a substitute of blaming our closest allies, we took actual motion to defend freedom by arming the Ukrainians at lightning pace.
NLAW anti-tank weapons, half 1,000,000 artillery shells, the primary authorities to supply important battle tanks and Storm Shadow missiles, and by coaching 50,000 Ukrainian troopers.
That is what it means to be a real conservative – standing as much as Putin, similar to Churchill did to Hitler, Thatcher to Galtieri and on this celebration, we are going to at all times rise up for freedom and be ready to defend it.
ShareRobert Jenrick posing for {a photograph} on the celebration convention. {Photograph}: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianShare
Labour sources have defended Lord Hermer within the mild of Robert Jenrick’s assault on him. One supply stated:
[Robert] Jenrick thinks private assaults are a superb alternative for a fundamental understanding of the legislation. The legal professional common is altering issues for the higher, together with serving to ship the Hillsborough Legislation, whereas Jenrick almost collapses homicide trials together with his tweets. Who would you somewhat have defending the rule of legislation?
It is usually being identified that Hermer’s authorized work earlier than coming into authorities included representing Grenfell Tower households and dealing on the taskforce for accountability for crimes dedicated in Ukraine.
I’ve beefed up the put up at 12.09pm, with Jenrick’s feedback about Hermer, to incorporate extra direct quotes. It’s possible you’ll have to refresh the web page to get the replace to look.
Share
Jenrick’s assault on judges ‘severe mistake’, says former supreme courtroom justice Lord Sumption
Lord Sumption, a former supreme courtroom decide, instructed the World at One which Robert Jenrick’s proposal to alter the judicial appointments course of in order that the lord chancellor (the justice secretary) appoints judges can be a “severe mistake”.
Sumption stated that, earlier than 2005, the lord chancellor did appoint judges. However opinion was “a lot much less polarised” then, he stated. He stated the one Marxist to take a seat on the excessive courtroom bench was appointed by Lord Hailsham, a Conservative. He went on:
If judges had been appointed in in the present day’s polarised world by the lord chancellor, I don’t assume the general public would have the identical confidence of their independence. They’re truly appointed by the judicial appointments fee, which is an unbiased, non-political physique, and it appears for a similar qualities within the judges it appoints.
The one doable motive for going again to the outdated system can be to nominate judges who had been much less unbiased or extra political than those appointed by the judicial appointments fee.
Sumption stated the Jenrick coverage would deliver the UK nearer to the US mannequin, the place the president appoints judges to the supreme courtroom. He went on:
In america, the supreme courtroom has change into subservient to the president and enabled him to behave like an autocrat. I believe that that may be a very severe enterprise in america, and we ought to be very cautious to take take warning from it.
Sumption additionally stated he didn’t assume it was objectionable for part-time judges to present free authorized companies to our bodies like migration charities. Making public statements that had been politically controversial was a type of misconduct, he stated. However he stated there have been already procedures in place to cope with that. The system “works completely properly”, he stated.
He went on:
Judges have gotten to be unbiased of the federal government and unbiased of political sentiment. I completely agree with that. However they will’t be unbiased in the event that they’re liable to denounced by politicians. I believe that that may be a severe mistake. It’s a misjudgment on his half.
It’s significantly awkward for the Tories to have Lord Sumption criticising Jenrick on this as a result of Sumption is without doubt one of the most distinguished British judges advocating withdrawal from the European conference on human rights. His feedback featured prominently within the Lord Wolfson report on this concern.
Share
Q: [From the Guardian] In your feedback about Handsworth, weren’t you imposing a white normative commonplace for what public life would appear like? And what’s the foundation for saying the variety of white folks you see in an space is an efficient measure is an efficient measure of group integration?
Jenrick asks if the reporter has regarded on the ONS inhabitants figures for that group.
(He ignores the truth that they had been truly printed within the Guardian’s story.)
He goes on:
I used to be very clear within the remarks that I gave at that assembly, this isn’t in regards to the color of your pores and skin or the religion that you simply abide by. It’s that, wherever doable, I would like communities to be properly built-in, and for folks of all faiths and pores and skin color to be dwelling aspect by aspect in harmonious, properly built-in communities. That doesn’t occur in all components of our nation.
I don’t need my kids to develop up in a rustic the place folks of 1 pores and skin color stay in a single a part of city, folks of one other pores and skin color stay in one other world, the Muslims, the Jews, the Christians have gotten their bits of city. Come on. We’re higher than that. That is Britain.
Because the Guardian reported, Handsworth is blended. Our story says:
The ethnicity of Handsworth is 25% Pakistani, 23% Indian, 10% Bangladeshi, 16% Black African or Black Caribbean, 10% blended or different ethnic group and 9% white.
Andy Avenue, the previous Tory mayor of the West Midlands, has additionally made this level forcefully. (See 8.13am.)
Share
Jenrick says he didn’t point out Reform UK in his speech ‘as a result of I do not obsess about them’
A journalist asks Jenrick why he didn’t point out Reform UK in his speech.
Jenrick replies:
As a result of I don’t obsess about them.
This was well-liked with the viewers on the fringe assembly (although clearly disingenous – see 1.01am.)
Share
Jenrick criticises the choice to prosecute a person who burned a a Qur’an out of doors the Turkish consulate in London. He says he doesn’t approve of burning holy texts, however he thinks this individual mustn’t have been prosecuted. That could be a free speech concern, he says.
Share
