Baroness Sayeeda Warsi resigns over Gaza

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi came into politics with all the passion of someone who believed in social and racial justice, a lot has happened in between. But in the end she leaves Government and all the trappings of power with that same passion that began her political journey; with a passion for social and racial justice.

By resigning over the Government’s lack of moral courage over Israel’s brutal suppression of Hamas and the Palestinian people, Warsi will have earned plaudits not only in UK but around the world. She is the most senior international figure to make such a bold political statement over what she sees as an intolerable unjust conflict. She like many including OBV know that Israel has the right to exist and to defend itself, but what we've seen on our screens and in our newspapers clearly goes beyond that.

Many people will not know that Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Operation Black Vote go back a long way. I had little difficultly convincing the firebrand lawyer to join the OBV project in the north of England back in 1997. Back then in Batley and Spen, Oldham and Bradford Warsi was young lawyer who had dedicated her early years in law defending young women’s rights. We've not always seen eye to eye particularly in her early political days when Ithought she was too keen to please her party bosses. As the years have gone by, Warsi has found her own voice and always made her views clear even at the expense of being vilified by her own party.

Today, less than half an hour after she’d made the decision to resign, I had a lengthy conversation with Sayeeda:

Simon, I hope you’re not disappointed in one of your protégées. I’ve thought long and hard over this decision and I believe it’s the right thing to do.”

I responded:

Yes, I am disappointed. I’m disappointed that you will no longer be on the international political stage representing our Government, but no, far from being disappointed in you I’m immensely proud of the political courage and leadership you have shown today."

Warsi’s decision to resign on a matter of principle will have reverberation right across Westminster for a long time to come. It will remind some of our weaker career-driven politicians that political expediency at the cost of moral fibre is perhaps the key reason why politicians and politics has become such a turn-off.

In regards to Warsi’s next step, she told me:

My family’s first. I can give them more of me, they deserve that.”

She also pledged to continue her support for OBV which has lasted over a very long time.

Well done Sayeeda!

Simon Woolley