Robert Jenrick urges schools to teach kids about England's achievements rather than leading classes diminishing it

Robert Jenrick has urged schools to teach children about England's achievements rather than leading classes diminishing it.

The Conservative Party leadership candidate spoke to Time Radio's Cathy Newman about Englishness being under threat and how he wants to see people 'cherish' English culture and identity 'more publicly'.

The 42-year-old said: 'It's the things that the English and England has achieved over the years. It's the landscapes that I love in this country. It's the English literature that I read and read to my children. It's the food that we enjoy, like a Sunday roast.

'It is so much that we all know and I think everybody in our country would know the things that make English culture and identity so special. What I want to see is us cherish that and to do so more publicly.'

Mr Jenrick believes that to do this, schools need to change the way they approach teaching children about English history.

He added: 'And that means, for example, that our children learn more about English history in schools. It means that our institutions like our great museums support and nurture English history and heritage rather than at times denigrating and diminishing it.'

The former Minister of State for Immigration also said that mass migration makes it 'difficult' to pass English identity and culture down to the next generation.

'It does mean thinking carefully about the impacts of mass migration, because it is so difficult to hand over an identity and a culture to the next generation when the pace of change is so fast. And integration is so limited as it is right now in some parts of England,' he said.

Mr Jenrick highlighted the fact that he grew up in Wolverhampton and was raised by working class parents who set up a small business and instilled 'Conservative values' in him and his sister about hard work, family, small business and self-reliance - things he believes the Tory party should be returning to.

He said: 'I came from working class parents, but I was very fortunate in life. My parents were fantastic. They gave me an amazing start.

'My grandmother used a life insurance policy when her husband died to send me to a local private grammar school.

'So I don't pretend that my upbringing was tough, but I grew up in provincial Britain in Wolverhampton and I now represent a small town in north Nottinghamshire. And I'm still very rooted in those parts of the world.

'And I'm in politics for those people, working people, people who are getting up early in the morning to put food on the table for their kids to start small businesses.'