New Housing and Communities Secretary, Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick MP, visited the Jewish community in Golders Green, North London, just days after his appointment, in one of his first official engagements.
Speaking to the Jewish Chronicle he said that ensuring Britain’s Jews feel “protected and respected” will be “one of my priorities”.
He said that Prime Minister Johnson “feels very strongly that the government must use everything at its disposal to tackle the scourge of antisemitism”.
Mr Jenrick told the JC that visiting Auschwitz “had a huge impact on me personally”, particularly as his wife is the child of Holocaust survivors, and underlined his commitment to ensuring that the Holocaust Memorial next to Parliament is completed.
He underlined: “I feel ashamed by the current climate of antisemitism in this country and I think all politicians need to do far more to tackle it”.
The MP for Newark was joined by Golders Green Rabbi Harvey Belovski and visited the local Carmelli bakery, before sitting down with Jewish students at the nearby Headroom Cafe to hear accounts of life on university campuses.
Condemning antisemitism and hostility on UK university campuses, he said: “I am very concerned to hear the stories we have just heard – young Jewish students whose experiences on campus are not the same as everyone else’s. That is a situation we need to tackle”.
