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”.