Jenrick is alleged to have made the remarks at a reception for the European Research Group at party conference.
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has been criticised for claiming that he wanted to give historian David Starkey, who has previously been condemned for making ‘vile and racist’ remarks, a ‘dukedom’.
Jenrick is alleged to have made the remarks at a reception for the European Research Group at party conference.
Politico reports: “Jenrick made jokey comments last night that may not go down too well either, Playbook’s Stefan Boscia texts to say.
“He told a European Research Group (ERG) reception that he was in favour of a “dukedom for David Starkey.” This is, of course, the historian who was accused of racism (including by senior Tory MPs like Sajid Javid) for saying that American slavery wasn’t an example of genocide because “so many damned Blacks” survived.
Starkey was widely condemned at the time for his comments.
Writing on Twitter, then chancellor Sajid Javid said at the time: “David Starkey’s racist comments are a reminder of the appalling views that still exist.”
Fitzwilliam College, part of Cambridge University, where Starkey held an honorary fellowship at the time, described his remarks as “indefensible”.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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