Edwina Currie has slammed Robert Jenrick’s comments about integration in Birmingham, labelling his words “absolutely awful” and “hateful.”
This week, a leaked recording captured Jenrick complaining about ‘not seeing another white face’ during a visit to the Birmingham neighbourhood of Handsworth.
In a recording obtained by the Guardian, the shadow justice secretary said the area was “as close as I’ve come to a slum” and “one of the worst integrated places that I’ve ever been to.”
His comments have been roundly condemned by many, including member of his own party.
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This includes former Tory minister Edwina Currie, who said it was “hateful” for Jenrick to “invoke race and colour in that way.”
Speaking to Times Radio, Currie said she was familiar with Handsworth because of her previous time as a Birmingham city councillor, saying the area has “changed a lot” from a predominantly Black Caribbean area to being much more “mixed in many ways.”
She said that Jenrick will have seen an “awful lot of people who are British citizens” during his visit to the area.
Currie theorised: “I think that the message that he might well be trying to put across to the Conservative members is ‘if you want to be led by a white, middle-aged male like all the other political parties, I’m your man.’ I think it’s hateful, I really, really do.”
She added: “Invoking race and colour in that way, it’s not the Tory way. It’s never been the Tory way, we don’t out-Reform Reform.
“We really have to be much more thoughtful and mature and adult, and it’s just not happening as far as I can see.”
Reacting to the former Tory MPs comments, one person wrote: “Blimey, I never thought I’d be agreeing with Edwina Currie about anything.”