Jess Phillips admits 'mistake' over unrest tweet

Home Office minister Jess Phillips says she made a "mistake" in her response to a video showing masked men confronting a reporter last week.

The footage showed a Sky News broadcast in her Birmingham Yardley constituency cut short after men in masks surrounded a journalist.

Responding to the clip on social media at the time, Ms Phillips said the gathering had been due to "misinformation" spread in the area.

Her comments have been criticised by political opponents, including Tory leadership candidates Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ms Phillips admitted she "would choose my words more carefully" in the future.

But she added that she was "trying to get across that this gathering of people had been manufactured by misinformation".

A clip of the broadcast, shared by Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, showed a group of men gathering in the Bordesley Green area of Birmingham last week.

Police said "a large number of people" gathered in the area on Monday amid reports of a far-right march that did not take place.

According to some social media posts, that crowd of mainly young Asian men was nearly 300 in number.

The clip shared by Mr Tice showed a man on a motorbike driving up to the Sky reporter, before swearing about the English Defence League (EDL) and shouting "Free Palestine".

Other masked men then surrounded the reporter before making gestures to the camera, prompting Sky to bring the broadcast to an end.

Sharing the video on X, Mr Tice said: "[Keir] Starmer and Labour no doubt think these pro-Gaza masked folk are far-right too?

"All violence, rioting and assault is totally unacceptable. Two tier policing must stop."

In response, Ms Phillips replied: "These people came to this location because it has been spread that racists were coming to attack them.

"This misinformation was spread entirely to create this content. Don't spread it Mr Tice!"

'Making excuses'

Asked whether she regretted her response to the video on Wednesday, Ms Phillips told reporters: "I think I almost certainly could have phrased it better."

She added that "intelligence being spread amongst the community" that "people were coming to harm them" had caused "upset and fear".

"Anybody, regardless of who they are, whichever flag they wish to wave, anyone being a thug on our streets should not be tolerated.

“Of course I would choose my words more carefully. I’m more than happy to say that when I make a mistake, absolutely”.

Ms Phillips's comments have been criticised by shadow home secretary and Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly.

He wrote on X: "Home Office ministers should not be making excuses for masked men shouting, abusing, and intimidating members of the media.

"Ministers are not commentators or casual observers, they are decision makers and need to think about the consequences of their words and actions."

On Tuesday shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat said Ms Phillips had chosen to "justify" the men's behaviour "instead of condemning it," adding that Sir Keir Starmer should have sacked her for the comments.

Ms Phillips, who has represented Birmingham Yardley since 2015, has one of the biggest followings on X among Labour MPs.

She resigned as a shadow minister to call for a ceasefire in Gaza during a vote in Parliament last November.

But she returned to the Labour frontbench after the party's landslide election victory last month, when she was appointed Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Minister at the Home Office.