Senior Foreign Office minister, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, resigned from the UK Government on Tuesday morning over Britain’s policy on Gaza. She posted her letter of resignation on Twitter just after 9AM, citing the UK government’s policy on the Gaza conflict as “morally indefensible”.
Baroness Warsi was Britain’s first female Muslim Cabinet minister, appointed to her role in 2010. Her resignation letter also added that while her decision “has not been easy”, there is “great unease” within the Foreign Office over “the way recent decisions are being made.” Her tweet about her resignation got over 10 thousand retweets in a matter of hours.
Sayeeda Warsi is the first minister in four years of coalition government to resign over a matter of policy, putting the Gaza conflict further into the limelight.
With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza
— Sayeeda Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi) August 5, 2014
Her letter of resignation emphasises that Britain’s response to the crisis will have a long term “detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically”. She also suggested that the Israeli government must face international trial for war crimes, but she fears that the British Government will not support her view on the matter.
Her resignation letter states:
“Particularly as the Minister with responsibility for the United Nations, The International Criminal Court and Human Rights, I believe our approach in relation to the current conflict is neither consistent with our values, specifically our commitment to the rule of law and our long history of support for international justice.”
Sayeeda Warsi’s resignation comes at a time when the Prime Minister is out of the country on holiday. Therefore, the only strong response from Government has come from Chancellor George Osborne, whose comments were critical of Baroness Warsi’s actions:
“This is a disappointing and frankly unnecessary decision. The British Government is working with others in the world to bring peace to Gaza and we do now have a tentative ceasefire which we all hope will hold.”
However, Baroness Warsi’s strong views on the conflict aren’t new. She has been active in expressing her concerns of the fighting between Israel and Palestine. On 24 July, she tweeted about the children who have died in the conflict, suggesting that politics must not act as a justification for this slaughter.
Can people stop trying to justify the killing of children. Whatever our politics there can never be justification, surely only regret #Gaza
— Sayeeda Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi) July 24, 2014
Since she posted about her resignation from Government, thousands have taken to Twitter to voice their support and respect for the decision she has made.
@SayeedaWarsi you have earned yourself a great respect by standing for the values you believed in. — علي شنيمر (@sheneamer) August 5, 2014
@SayeedaWarsi thank you for doing what all politicians should be doing .putting social justice before party policy ! Thank you not easy 2do
— Ray woolford (@Raywoolford) August 5, 2014
.@SayeedaWarsi at last, an MP demonstrating integrity and soul. — daren (@Mon_Quixote) August 5, 2014
Definitely impressed by @SayeedaWarsi‘s resignation over @David_Cameron‘s policy on #gaza. Maybe more politicians will follow suit!
— Pennie Varvarides (@SuperPennie) August 5, 2014
Apart from putting further pressure on Cameron to take concrete action regarding the Gaza conflict, Sayeeda Warsi’s resignation has brought yet another crucial issue to the table. While many have taken to Twitter to voice their support for her decision, many people have also taken to Twitter to ask: “What IS Britain’s policy on Gaza?”
Re: Warsi. What *is* the government’s policy on Gaza? I genuinely have no idea.
— Hugh Wright (@HRWright) August 5, 2014
If Sayeeda Warsi knows what the government policy is on Gaza, could she please tell the rest of us?
— Mark Ferguson (@Markfergusonuk) August 5, 2014
Not sure I know what UK Government’s policy is on Gaza
— Ian Brown (@IanBrownwyp) August 5, 2014
On the issue, a Downing Street spokesperson said that David Cameron is “grateful for the excelling work that [Baroness Warsi] has done” and added:
“Our policy has always been consistently clear – the situation in Gaza is intolerable and we’ve urged both sides to agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”
Other responses from British politicians have included:
“Most reasonably minded people across Britain will agree with the sentiments expressed by Baroness Warsi in her resignation statement today. It is a sad reflection of the Prime Minister’s misjudgement of the crisis in Gaza that this capable Minister has felt the need to leave the Government.” – Douglas Alexander, the shadow Foreign Secretary.
“She has done a great job for us and I hope she will be back as soon as possible.” – London Mayor Boris Johnson, a fellow Conservative.
“The government’s position is wrong and I think Sayeeda Warsi’s statement is completely right about this.” – Labour leader Ed Miliband
Sayeeda Warsi’s full resignation letter to David Cameron, UK Prime Minister:
Journalist Mehdi Hasan conducted an exclusive interview with Sayeeda Warsi for Huffington Post following her resignation. Read the article here.
About the Author
Priyanka, this is not objective reporting or analysis. If you were truly honest you would have also mentioned an alleged political pretext to advance her career, which has also been suggested and not just take Warsi’s actions as a committed supporter of the “Rule of law” in Gaza, whatever that is supposed to mean. There is no clear policy on Gaza, as there is no clear policy on Syria or Lebanon. This kind of letter and declaration appeals to the ignorant and uninformed, which much of this country sadly is in the mist, largely due to much of the very biased press and news bulletins that fail to disclose truth about a very measured military operation to destroy tunnels into Israel to cause civilian casualties, to launching over 3300 rockets on civilian population (is that proportionate or lawful?), to using human shields and to terrorising the citizens of Gaza who want this no more than the rest of the world want it.
Save your tears for the real victims in all of this and use discretion when politicians act in a bid to further their careers and support terror.
The same political ambitions apply to the others who have come out in support of her.
[…] an open letter, Sayeeda Warsi took the bold move of resigning from her position as a minister in Britain’s Foreign… (FCO). She said her decision was a result of the government’s policy on the recent conflict in […]