Robert Jenrick Refuses To Apologise For Removing Mickey Mouse Mural At Asylum Centre

Robert Jenrick has refused to apologise for ordering the removal of a Mickey Mouse mural from an asylum centre because it was too welcoming for children.

The Tory leadership hopeful would only say that he would not make the same decision again.

However, in August last year he told LBC: “The change was the right one and I fundamentally believe that you don’t judge the compassion of our system by the decoration of a centre where they first arrive.”

Jenrick was the immigration minister when the murals of cartoon characters at the Kent Intake Unit were painted over.

On Sky News on Tuesday night, presenter Sophy Ridge asked him: “Can you see why some people think that is a cruel thing to do?”

Jenrick replied: “I’ve said I wouldn’t do it again, but the reason why we changed the character of the place in which migrants first came to when they arrived in the UK was to ensure that we were weeding out those adults who were posibg a real risk to children.”

But the presenter told him: “That’s nothing to do with the Mickey Mouse mural though, is it? I mean if you’re a 25-year-old pretending to be 18, it’s not going to make a difference to you if there’s Mickey Mouse greeting you or not, is it?

“But it might make a difference to a person who is eight years old.”

Jenrick said: “All I can is I would never do anything other than try to support children in a compassionate manner, and my record speaks to that.”

Asked if he was “sorry” for having the mural painted over, the MP said: “It’s not something I would do again.”

Ridge then asked him: “Do you regret it?”

Jenrick replied: “You’re asking me this over and over again. The substantive question here is how do we actually treat unaccompanied children when they come into our country, and the reforms that I did as a minister meant that they were treated in an immeasurably better manner than before I was a minister.”