Patrick Comerford
The former British Prime Minister David Cameron slipped up in a speech ten years ago when he said he supported West Ham – after a lifetime of claiming he was an Aston Villa fan.
Cameron’s uncle the late Sir William Dugdale chaired Aston Villa from 1975 to 1982. But after that faux pas Camron admitted he seldom goes to football matches and he only occasionally checks the results of his favourite team – or teams, as the case may be. It seems he knew just enough about football to know that Aston Villa and West Ham play in similar colours – claret and blue – but not enough to convince true Villa or Hammers fans that he is one of the blokes.
Now, it appears the wannabe Tory leader Robert Jenrick does not know the difference between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and he does not know the difference, geographically, between neighbouring Aston and Handsworth.
All of which is very disturbing indeed considering Jenrick was born in Wolverhampton, went to school at Wolverhampton Grammar School, and claims to be an expert on cultural and ethnic diversity in Handsworth.
Jenrick fuelled a fire of toxic nationalism around the time of the Conservative Party conference in October with comments he made about not seeing another white face in Handsworth. He claimed he had spent 90 minutes in Handsworth, and thought this made him so knowledgeable about the place to tell Tories in Aldrige-Brownhills that it is ‘absolutely appalling. It’s as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country.’ He claimed it was not the kind of Britain he wants to live in.
To make what he said even worse, he said unashamedly, he ‘didn’t see another white face there.’
In the stormy aftermath, I tried to make some points in response, having spent a little more than 90 minutes in Handsworth during my lifetime. Indeed, there are Comberford family links with Handsworth going back to the 16th century; William Comberford (1594-1653) of Comberford Hall was baptised in 1595 in Saint Mary’s Church, Handsworth, where his mother’s brother, the Revd Henry Stanford, was the Rector in 1604-1608, and members of the Comberford were still living in Handsworth in1677.
All of that was more than 90 minutes ago. Of course, none of that makes me an expert on Handsworth. But Robert Jenrick should know too that 90 minutes do not make someone an expert analyst on any topic, particularly if most of those 90 minutes are spent looking down at litter on the street or looking into a camera, rather than looking people in the face, or, even better talking to them.
Jenrick seemed to want to talk to white people only. He did not talk to or listen to anyone who was not white. What sort of human being denies the dignity and shared humanity of another person because of their ethnicity or culture? There is only one word to answer that.
Jenrick went on to say Handsworth is ‘as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country.’ Obviously, he does not know what a true slum is like, he has never visited a real slum. But then, if he had, he could not be so slick about the words he used in his rush to judgment. Indeed, if he had ever visited some of the slums I know, and had a conscience, he would abandon his political and social opinions.
If Jenrick had bothered, he might have seen the Handsworth I know, which is diverse, creative, culturally vibrant and has much that is beautiful. Rushing to judgment without looking around you, without listening to people, without talking to them, and without respecting their lifestyle and integrity is contributing to shaping a Britain than none of us should want to emerge in the future.
But now, it emerges, Jenrick was not even in Handsworth when he made these condemnable comments on the place. He actually made his controversial comments about Handsworth when he was, in fact, walking along a street in Aston, three miles to the east.
Jenrick made his incendiary comments about Handsworth after he filmed a piece for so-called GB News about the bin strikes in February, claiming he was in Handsworth. But since then many people have pointed out since then that he was actually walking along the Broadway, close to the corner of Witton Road in Aston and close to both Aston Hall and Villa Park, the home of Aston Villa.
There is a big difference between being on the border of Aston and Perry Barr and being in Handsworth.
Of course, Jenrick’s recent comments were irresponsible and deeply flawed, regardless of where he was referring to. Birmingham, including areas like Handsworth and Aston, is a vibrant, creative, and diverse place where people from all walks of life live and work together successfully. But the geographical inaccuracy of his statement deepens concerns about what he said when the location Jenrick described as Handsworth appears to actually be Aston, it raises serious questions about the man’s credibility.
When it emerged that Jenrick’s observations about Handsworth where made when he had been in Aston, Jane Haynes, Politics and People Editor at the Birmingham Mail and Post, said it ‘makes me lol, but also very frustrated. Jenrick has no interest in, nor care for, or knowledge of Birmingham or its people, except when it fits an agenda, just as the likes of Katie Hopkins did before him.’
It is all the more gob-smacking because Jenrick not only was born and went to school in Wolverhampton, but he has also put himself forward as having expert knowledge on Aston Villa, and was vocally critical of the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the recent Europa League tie at Aston Villa.
The shadow justice secretary says he is a Wolves fan, but when he talks about matches between Wolves and Villa, as The New World pointed out (20 October), he is reminiscing about matches he could not possibly have attended.
‘Growing up in the eighties, my dad took me to more than a few matches at Villa Park in the away end,’ he wrote on X (alias Twitter). ‘The language, chants, and antics were – at times – less than well-mannered.’
But, as New World points out, it is more than confusing to consider how Jenrick’s father could have taken the child to ‘more than a few’ Wolves away games at Villa Park. Wolves spent much of the 1980s in different divisions and played away at Villa just seven times in that decade: four times in the league, twice in the League Cup and once in the FA Cup. Jenrick was born in 1982, so for three of those games, he had not been born, and for three he was, respectively, two months, one year and two years old.
The only Wolves away game in the 1980s that he could possibly have attended and have any memory of was when Villa defeated Wolves 2-1 in the then Littlewoods Challenge Cup in September 1989, when Jenrick was seven.
Was Stuart Gray’s 63rd minute winning goal for Villa so memorable that Jenrick has convinced himself it happened countless times? But still, give me a rest: one game in 1989 is hardly ‘more than a few matches at Villa Park’ in the 1980s.
If Jenrick’s visits to Villa Park were so memorable, how did he not realise when he was on Broadway, close to the corner of Witton Road, that he was in Aston and close to Villa Park, and not in Handsworth?
And if ‘the language, chants, and antics’ at Villa Park ‘were – at times – less than well-mannered’, why did he not learn a lesson or two when it comes to talking about Aston and Handsworth?
Robert Jenrick is an uncritical admirer of Trump and more than once has called for an election pact with Farage. He has made a name for himself pursuing alleged fare dodgers on the London Underground. But he needs to show a little more honesty himself. He has not apologised yet for his descriptions of Handsworth, as far as I know, nor has he explained why and how he conflated Aston and Handsworth, and whether it was a mistake or he did this on purpose.
For most men, our loyalties and allegiances to teams are fastened in our childhood and teen years, and to change them as adults feels like an act of desertion or betrayal. I became a supporter of Aston Villa in my late teens because Villa Park was the nearest statdium to Lichfield.That was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, some years before David Cameron’s uncle chaired Aston Villa, and long before, as he would want us to believe, Robert Jenrick’s father took him to matches in Villa Park.
When Aston Villa beat West Ham 3-2 two weeks ago (14 December), did David Cameron know how to look for the results in the papers the next day?
When Villa beat Wolves 1-0 a month ago (30 November), did Robert Jenrick know about it?
When Aston Villa plays Arsenal later this evening, I know who I shall be cheering for. After 11 victories in a row, I’m hoping Villa can produce a result like the last match against Arsenal: and in case Cameron and Jenrick don’t know, it was 1-0 for Villa at home on 6 December.
