Until yesterday, Sayeeda Warsi was one of the highest-profile Muslims in the Conservative party. Some hailed her as a symbol of Tory diversity; others criticised her for sticking with a party that appeared to harbour Islamophobes. So when the 53-year-old peer announced on X that she was resigning the Conservative whip, it wasn’t just Westminster-watchers who were shocked.
Even Warsi seems a little dazed when we talk the morning after. She remains a Conservative at heart, she says, laughing when I ask if she is about to join Labour or the Liberal Democrats. Politically, she remains to the centre right. “I just don’t think my party is any more,” she says.