This is a sad day for me. I am a Conservative and remain so but sadly the current party are far removed from the party I joined and served in cabinet.
A former Tory chair, who was also the first Muslim woman the Conservatives had selected to stand as a Parliamentary candidate, has quit the party because it has become so ‘far right’.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi who had repeatedly called out Islamophobia in her party over the years and who once likened being in the Tories to being ‘in an abusive relationship’, announced on X that she has decided to give up the Conservative whip in the House of Lords “with a heavy heart”.
In a post on X, she said: “This is a sad day for me. I am a Conservative and remain so but sadly the current party are far removed from the party I joined and served in cabinet.
“My decision is a reflection of how far right my party has moved and the hypocrisy and double standards in its treatment of different communities. A timely reminder of the issues that I raise in my book Muslims Don’t Matter.”
Baroness Warsi was made a life peer in 2007 and was Tory chair alongside Lord Feldman between 2010 and 2012.
Her final position in government was as a Foreign Office minister in 2014, which she resigned from over the government’s stance on Gaza.
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