Tories say Robert Jenrick is stirring up division to fuel his own leadership ambitions, as community groups slam the shadow attorney general for describing British Pakistanis as “people of another culture” have been unofficially criticized.
The Liberal Democrats criticized the Tory leader's chemistry after backing Mr Jenrick's claim that mass immigration meant Britain had imported hundreds of thousands of people with “medieval attitudes towards women”.・Mr. Badenoch argued that he should be dismissed.
Mr Jenrick said on Tuesday morning that while he was at the Home Office he had called for an investigation into rape gangs but failed to act on its findings, and that until this year he had barely mentioned the issue in the House of Commons. He was repeatedly pursued for this reason.
Mr Badenoch has previously defended the shadow attorney general's right to speak, which has caused personal unease among some Tory MPs.
A senior Tory MP and supporter of Badenoch's leadership said: “Many people in the Conservative Party believe that Jenrick is not using the issue of gang raids to advance his own leadership ambitions.'' I'm worried about that,” he said. Portraying an entire culture as alien is nothing short of xenophobic and undermines the important task of achieving justice for these poor girls who have been let down by so many.
“While he is busy tarnishing the Conservative brand, [the Reform party leader] Nigel Farage seems like a reasonable person. All because Kemi couldn't restrain him. ”
One of Mr Jenrick's former Conservative colleagues said he was “poisoning discourse that has the potential to undermine a very good and important cause”. Another Conservative MP said Mr Jenrick's morning interview was disgraceful.
But many current Conservative MPs agreed with Mr Jenrick, saying he was “doing his job” by talking about the perceived failures of integration.
Mr Jenrick on Tuesday insisted he was right to say there had been a failure in integration. “What I meant was that millions of people have recently come into our country, some of whom come from countries and cultures that have negative attitudes toward women.” Mr Jenrick told Times Radio. “And that is supported by the evidence from Jay's report.” [into child sexual exploitation] and the victim's testimony.
“Pakistani men make up the overwhelming majority of those involved in grooming gangs, and the evidence we have seen shows that some of them view white working-class girls as worthless. There is evidence that they specifically preyed on them because of their
Professor Alexis Jay's independent research into child sexual abuse could not conclusively find that Pakistani men were over-represented, and said a lack of data meant that “certain ethnic groups are more likely to be involved in child sexual exploitation. It is impossible to know whether they are overrepresented as perpetrators by the network.''
Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Robert Jenrick's attempt to exploit this horrific scandal for his own political gain is completely shameless. “When he was a minister he did nothing to help victims. He did nothing about it, but now he's jumping on the bandwagon and acting like Farage in the pound shop.
“Instead of letting Kemi Badenoch run a leadership campaign under her nose, she should remove him as shadow attorney general and condemn his divisive comments.”
A number of prominent human rights activists also condemned Jenrick.
Labour's Shami Chakrabarti said: “Robert Jenrick is not blowing a dog whistle, he is blowing a foghorn with an explosive mix of racial politics and sexual abuse. A history of confronting the abuse of women and girls and acting on the Jay Report while in government would give him more credibility.”
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Baroness Shaista Gohil, chief executive of the British Muslim Women's Network, said: “Robert Jenrick's views run counter to the very British values he claims to stand for. appears to be shamelessly trying hard to attract attention, gain enough support to become politically relevant again, and become the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for the North West of England, who authorized the prosecution of the Rochdale gang, said: “Labeling an entire group as an 'alien culture' is a violation of centuries of shared history and values. , to ignore their contributions.” Made from British fabric. It's not an alien culture that's trying to divide us, it's ignorance. ”
Mr Jenrick was asked on Radio 4's Today program whether he was saying Britain should ban immigration from certain countries. “I think it's going to be very difficult to successfully integrate so many people that have come into our country in recent years. We should be open about it,” he said.
When asked if he was talking specifically about Pakistan when he spoke of “medieval attitudes towards women”, he said: I'm not saying everyone. ”
He added: 'I have always echoed the point made by the leader of my party, Kemi Badenoch, that all cultures are not equal. You have to be very careful.”
Mr Jenrick said he had no intention of amending his comments in response to criticism from Boris Johnson's former adviser on communities and civil society Samuel Cassam, who said Mr Jenrick's comments were highly divisive. He added that people were at risk of being killed.
“This is about young girls being systematically raped for decades, and you're asking me about hiding my language so as not to offend people. . I'm not going to shy away from this issue,” Mr Jenrick said.
