Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Right Honourable The Baroness Warsi |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Born | March 28, 1971  Dewsbury, England |
|---|---|
| Political party | Conservative |
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi (born March 28, 1971) is a British politician for the Conservative Party and a lawyer. Baroness Warsi is currently a member of the Shadow Cabinet.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Warsi was born in Dewsbury in 1971 to Pakistani parents. She was educated at Birkdale High School, Dewsbury College, and the University of Leeds where she read Law (LLB). She attended the York College of Law to complete her Legal Practice Course and trained both with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office Immigration Department. She is a Muslim.
[edit] Career
After qualifying as a Solicitor, she worked for John Whitfield, the last Conservative Member of Parliament for Dewsbury at Whitfield Hallam Goodall Solicitors and then went on to set up her own specialist practice George Warsi Solicitors in Dewsbury. She has also worked overseas for the Ministry of Law in Pakistan and in Kashmir as Chairman of the Savayra Foundation, a women's empowerment charity.
Warsi was the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Dewsbury at the 2005 General Election, becoming the first Muslim woman to be selected by the Conservatives. She has served as a special adviser to Michael Howard on Community Relations and was appointed by David Cameron as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party with specific responsibility for Cities.
In its December edition, the New Statesman 'revealed' that Warsi received support for her general election campaign from Lord Ahmed, a Labour peer.[1] According to the New Statesman's report, Warsi "welcomed Lord Ahmed's support".
On 2 July 2007 it was announced that Warsi would become Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and a working peer.[2] Her peerage was conferred as Baroness Warsi, of Dewsbury in the County of West Yorkshire on 11 October 2007 and gazetted on 26 October 2007.[3][4] She is, by October 2007, the youngest member of the House of Lords.[5]
The Gay rights organisation Stonewall, as well as several Labour politicians, have questioned her suitability for her current job due to leaflets for her election campaign which contained allegedly homophobic views. Some of her 2005 campaign leaflets claimed that Labour's lowering of the homosexual age of consent from 18 to 16 was "allowing schoolchildren to be propositioned for homosexual relationships",[6] and that homosexuality was being peddled to children as young as seven in schools. [7] On the subject, Warsi said that "I look back at lots of my election leaflets and think, 'God - why did I phrase it like that? What was I on?" adding "There was a whole team that was involved in my election leaflets. Looking back on it, maybe I could have used much better language than that", while adding her belief that sex education should be "out of the school system, initially"[6]. Warsi also said that the removal of Section 28 from the Local Government Act 1986 was 'the promotion of homosexuality'.
On 1 December 2007, Baroness Warsi travelled with Lord Ahmed to meet for talks with Sudanese officials and Ministers, in response to the jailing of an English teacher, Gillian Gibbons. Gibbons had been found guilty of insulting Islam, after allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed. This had resulted in her prosecution and a 15 day jail sentence. Baroness Warsi's and Lord Ahmed's meeting with the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir led to Mrs Gibbons being pardoned"[8] [9].
[edit] Styles
- Miss Sayeeda Warsi (1971-2007)
- The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Warsi (2007-)
[edit] References
- ^ Labour peer urged support for Tories in 2005 election - New Statesman - 30 November 2006
- ^ Profile: Sayeeda Warsi - BBC News - Monday, July 02, 2007
- ^ UK Parliament - New Members
- ^ London Gazette: no. 58495, page 15513, 2007-10-26. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
- ^ UK Parliament - Members and principal office holders of the Lords
- ^ a b 'Homophobic' leaflet used again by Tory candidate - Pink News - 11 July 2007
- ^ Adviser to Tory leader attacks gay sex laws - The Guardian, Wednesday 27 April 2005
- ^ Teacher speaks of Sudan 'ordeal' - BBC News - 4 December 2007
- ^ Tory peer's triumph delights Cameron - The Guardian - 4 December 2007
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Baroness Warsi at bbc.co.uk
- Baroness Warsi at conservatives.com
|
|||||||||||
