Tory insiders fear Robert Jenrick is stoking division to fuel leadership ambitions
Share:
Party sources accuse shadow justice minister of xenophobia and ‘toxifying’ Conservative brand with immigration comments. Tories have privately accused Robert Jenrick of stoking divisions to fuel his own leadership ambitions, as community groups condemned the shadow justice secretary for describing Britons of Pakistani origin as “people from alien cultures”.
The Liberal Democrats said the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, should sackJenrick after he stood by his claim that mass migration meant the UK had imported hundreds of thousands of people who “possess medieval attitudes towards women”. Jenrick was challenged repeatedly on Tuesday morning for having failed to act on the outcome of an inquiry into rape gangs while he was in the Home Office, despite now demanding one, and for rarely mentioning the issue in the Commons until this year.
Badenoch had previously defended the shadow justice secretary’s right to make the comments, which have caused private disquiet among some Conservative MPs. One senior Conservative MP and Badenoch leadership supporter said: “Many in the Conservative party are worried that Jenrick is using the issue of grooming gangs for his own leadership ambitions. Painting a whole culture as alien is nothing short of xenophobic, and undermines the important issue of achieving justice for those poor girls who were let down by so many.
