Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi

Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi, 2012

Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi , PC ( Urdu سعیده حسین وارثی; * March 28, 1971 in Dewsbury , Kirklees , West Yorkshire , England ) is a British Conservative Party politician of Pakistani origin.

From May 2010 to September 2012 she co-chaired the Conservative Party with Lord Feldman of Elstree and was a non-portfolio minister in the Cameron I cabinet . On September 4, 2012, she became a Senior Minister of State in the State Department . Sayeeda Warsi was also responsible for municipalities and local administration in the Department for Communities and Local Government . On August 4, 2014, she resigned from the government in protest of the British government's stance on the Gaza conflict .

Life

Lawyer and unsuccessful candidacy for the lower house

After attending Birkdale High School and Dewsbury College , she was already politically active there as Vice President of the Student Union. She then studied law at the University of Leeds . After completing this degree with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), she completed a postgraduate degree in law at the University of York . During the training, they also made polling stations at the Royal Prosecution Service ( Crown Prosecution Service ) and to the Immigration Department of the Ministry of the Interior ( Home Office Immigration Department ).

After qualifying as a solicitor , she worked for the law firm Whitfield Hallam Goodall Solicitors of former Conservative MP from Dewsbury, John Whitfield, before opening her own law firm with George Warsi Solicitors . She was particularly committed to combating racism and was an activist for the perception and stricter legislation in forced marriages, female genital cutting and the use of the drug khat .

She was also active for Operation Black Vote in West Yorkshire and for many years as an executive member of the Kirklees Racial Equality Council , a body promoting equality between races and peoples. She is also a member of the Racial Justice Committee of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and its representative at numerous national conferences.

She has also worked on a research project for the Ministry of Labor of Pakistan and is currently chair of the Savayra Foundation , a Pakistan-based charity for women.

In June 2004, she was a consultant for community relations of the then opposition leader Michael Howard and candidate in the general election on 5 May 2005. for a seat in the lower house ( House of Commons ) . During the election campaign, she spoke out against the equalization of the age of consent for homosexual acts to that for heterosexuals and claimed that homosexuality was forced upon seven-year-olds at school. She later apologized and admitted that she was on the wrong side of history regarding gay and lesbian equality. “And that homosexuality was being 'peddled' to children as young as seven in schools”.

Although she missed her entry into parliament, she was appointed vice-chairman of the Conservative Party by the new opposition leader David Cameron in June 2005 and, as such, was responsible in particular for the cities until July 2007.

In July 2007, she appointed Cameron to his conservative shadow cabinet .

Life peer and first Muslim minister

On October 11, 2007, she was raised to the rank of British nobility as a Life Peer titled Baroness Warsi , of Dewsbury in the County of West Yorkshire, and was, at the time of her appointment, the youngest member of the House of Lords .

In these functions, as the representative of Great Britain with Lord Ahmed, she successfully campaigned for the release of the British teacher Gillian Gibbons in Sudan in December 2007.

After the Conservative Party's victory in the general election on May 6, 2010 , Warsi was appointed Minister without Portfolio in his cabinet on May 11, 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron . This made her the first Muslim woman to hold a ministerial post in Great Britain. At the same time she became co-chair of the Conservative Party together with Lord Feldman of Elstree. In 2012 she moved to the Foreign Office as "Senior Minister" (equivalent to a Minister of State in German) .

Warsi repeatedly hit the headlines for failure to comply with compliance rules. In May 2012, she admitted that she had not disclosed rental income when disclosing her ancillary income to the House of Lords. At the same time, she came under fire for billing just under £ 2,000 of room expenses for having stayed in the apartment of her future advisor. Warsi apologized for both issues. Alex Allan, the civil servant state secretary for cabinet affairs, stated that Warsi had twice violated the code of conduct for cabinet members. Once she had taken a business partner on a business trip abroad, and another time she met the business partner with Prime Minister David Cameron at Number 10 Downing Street. Warsi also apologized for these rule violations.

resignation

On August 5, 2014, she resigned from all government posts and left the cabinet because she could no longer support the British government's Gaza policy. In her resignation letter, she wrote that she believed in the long term, nationally and internationally, that its Gaza policy would damage Britain's reputation.

In an interview with the Huffington Post , Warsi said she regretted not having spoken out in November 2012 against the British position not to recognize Palestine's statehood vis-à-vis the United Nations. This attitude "placed the United Kingdom on the wrong side of history". In an interview with Channel 4 News , Warsi also indicated that Cameron had “quietly kicked” his refusal to describe Israeli actions in Gaza as disproportionate:

“I think for me, it's morally indefensible where after four weeks of a conflict - more than a quarter of the Gazan population displaced, nearly 2,000 people killed, nearly 400 innocent children killed - we still cannot find the words to say we condemn this and we feel this action has been disproportionate. These issues are far too serious for us to have been mealy-mouthed and for us to be dragging our heels. "

“I think it is morally unacceptable if, after four weeks of conflict, after displacing over a quarter of Gaza's population, killing almost 2,000 people, killing almost 400 innocent children, we still cannot find the words to say that we condemn this and that we find this action disproportionate. This matter is far too serious for us to have been quiet and for us to drag it off. "

- Sayeeda Warsi : Declaration of resignation from August 5, 2014

Brexit

A few days before the referendum on the UK's possible withdrawal from the EU in 2016, she stated that she could no longer support the “ Brexit ” campaign because of the xenophobic content of the campaign . You will therefore vote against "Brexit". A spokesman for those in favor of leaving said that they had not been aware that Warsi had supported them so far.

Web links

Commons : Sayeeda Warsi  - collection of images

 Wikinews: Sayeeda Warsi  - on the news

• Conservative Party homepage
• Homepage as Life Peer ( They Work For You )
• Debrett's People of Today

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 'Homophobic' leaflet used again by Tory candidate . In: Pink News . July 11, 2007.
2. ↑ Adviser to Tory leader attacks gay sex laws . In: The Guardian , April 27, 2005. 
3. ↑ Exclusive: Tory minister Baroness Warsi: I was 'on the wrong side of history' on gay rights. , Pinknews.co.uk. December 12, 2013. Accessed February 23, 2014. 
4. ^ Britain's first female Muslim Cabinet minister Baroness Warsi brightens up Downing Street . The Telegraph, May 14, 2010
5. ^ Baroness Warsi becomes the new Conservative Party chairman . BBC News , May 12, 2010
6. ↑ telegraph.co.uk The Daily Telegraph, May 26, 2012
7. ^ Baroness Warsi: Labor urges expenses probe . BBC News , May 27, 2012
8. ^ Lady Warsi: I take expenses allegations very seriously . BBC News , May 28, 2012
9. ↑ Christopher Hope: Baroness Warsi found guilty of breaching ministerial code - but David Cameron says she can keep her job . In: The Daily Telegraph , June 27, 2012. 
10. ↑ Protest against Gaza policy: British Foreign Secretary Warsi resigns. Mirror online
11. ↑ ^{a b} Lady Warsi resignation letter - in full. on: The Guardian , August 5, 2014, accessed August 6, 2014
12. ↑ ^{a b c d} Lady Warsi resigns over UK's 'morally indefensible' stance on Gaza ( Memento from September 12, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). The Guardian, August 5, 2014, by Patrick Wintour and Rowena Mason, archived from the original on September 12, 2014.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Baroness Warsi quits government over Gaza ( Memento from September 12, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). Channel 4, August 5, 2014, archived from the original on September 12, 2014.
14. ↑ EU referendum: Baroness Warsi switches from Leave to Remain. In: BBC.com. June 20, 2016, accessed October 19, 2019 .