‘Not words that I would have used’: Stride distances himself from Jenrick’s ‘no white faces’ comments – as it happened

Shadow chancellor distances himself from words after Robert Jenrick accused of racism in comments he made about Handsworth. This live blog is closed

Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, has said that he would not have used the words that Robert Jenrick did about not seeing “another white face” when he talked about visiting Handsworth in Birmingham.

Stride is the first senior Tory at the conference to distance himself from Jenrick over the comments, which Kemi Badenoch has been defending all today.

At a Politico fringe meeting, asked by Anne McElvoy how he felt about Jenrick’s comments, Stride replied:

Those are not words that I would have used.