Jenrick insists millions of passport-holders are not 'culturally or ethnically' English as identity row engulfs Reform

From the Newshound archive · first published 10 October 2026.

Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick has reignited a bitter row over English identity, declaring that "millions and millions" of people living in England are neither culturally nor ethnically English despite holding British passports. His intervention follows Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's conference attack on Reform for "debating whether my mixed-race children are English." Jenrick told GB News the definition of English identity requires someone to be "fully embracing of our history, our heritage, our language, our culture, our norms and our manners."

The row was sparked by Reform MP Suella Braverman, who said non-white people born in Britain can be British but not English.

Badenoch hit back at her former colleague, accusing Reform of "questioning people's English identity" and "taking us backwards."

Jenrick's former colleague Ben Obese-Jecty savaged him on X, calling him "a chameleon who will say whatever serves him best in that moment."