UK Islamophobia: Why Sayeeda Warsi had to leave a party she no longer recognised
It is hard to think of a more natural Conservative than Sayeeda Warsi, the former party chair and cabinet minister.
She ticks most of the boxes: family values, small businessperson, hard-working, no accusations of dishonesty or sleaze.
Baroness Warsi served as a member of former Prime Minister David Cameron’s cabinet before resigning on principle over what she saw as her government’s “morally indefensible” approach to Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza.
She was angered by Cameron’s refusal to label as “disproportionate” a war in which more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, compared with 73 Israelis - most of them soldiers.
Since then, Warsi has become isolated as the Tories have become increasingly bigoted and lurched towards the far right.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
In recent years, many issues have estranged her from the Conservatives, including the party’s growing Islamophobia and its hostility towards the rule of law and human rights, as exemplified in the plan to deport migrants to Rwanda.
More recently, the divide has grown over the Tory government’s blind support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government during the slaughter in Gaza. But Warsi stayed loyal, hoping she could exercise influence from within.
On Thursday night, she cracked. Though many factors were at work, the immediate cause was the acquittal of schoolteacher Marieha Hussain in a London court two weeks ago.
'Secret retrial'
Hussain was accused of racial abuse for carrying a banner depicting former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman as coconuts during a peace march against the Gaza war last November.
Warsi signalled her approval of the verdict in a tweet that showed her sipping coconut milk through a straw.
Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war
In her resignation statement, Warsi said the Conservative Party had launched an inquiry after she refused to withdraw her statement of support for the verdict. “The case was due to be conducted in private behind closed doors,” she said, adding that she was not even informed of the complainant's identity.
“It was effectively to be a secret retrial of the #coconuttrial… I was not prepared to accept this.”
The treatment of Warsi shows how the Conservative Party is moving at breakneck speed in the direction of Germany's AfD or France's National Rally
This raises troubling questions. I sat through the two days of the Hussain trial, in which I gave evidence as an expert witness.
While my role was limited to explaining the political background of the case, Hussain’s defence produced two formidable academic experts in racism, Gus John and Gargi Bhattacharyya, who gave evidence in her support.
They produced many examples where the word “coconut” was used in a light-hearted or satirical way and dismissed the idea that the term was racist.
Crucially, it emerged that the investigating team had approached three racism experts to give evidence for the prosecution, but all refused. The court heard that one of them gave “quite a lengthy response”, saying that the word was not a racial slur and asking that his view be shared with crown prosecutors.
At this point, it became obvious that the prosecution did not have a leg to stand on.
Virulent language
None of this stopped the Tories from launching an investigation into Warsi for agreeing with the judge’s verdict. Today, the Conservatives are on the warpath, with senior figures wheeled out to trash Warsi’s reputation.
Leading the assault is former home secretary and now Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly, who accused Warsi of launching a “particularly pernicious attack” and failing to recognise “the abuse of other black colleagues”.
There is a deep irony here. Cleverly occupied the senior positions of home secretary and foreign secretary in the most bigoted government in British history.
Think of the virulent language about migrants, the plan to deport them to Rwanda, the talk of an “invasion” of migrants and the ongoing Islamophobia.
In office, Cleverly did not protest against any of this. But now, he turns brutally against Warsi for supporting the verdict of a British judge in a British court.
The treatment of Warsi shows how the Conservative Party is moving at breakneck speed in the direction of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) or France’s National Rally. Warsi deserves our thanks for struggling to hold the line against bigotry.
Warsi would have fit like a glove into any Tory government in recent history, from Margaret Thatcher to Cameron. Her reluctant departure from the party she once loved tells us that the Tories are now a far-right movement rather than a mainstream political party that decent people can support.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
