UK Foreign Office minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has resigned
from government, saying she can "no longer support" its policy on
Gaza.
She told her Twitter followers that she was leaving with "deep regret".
She was previously chairman of the Conservative Party.
Lady Warsi became the first female Muslim cabinet minister when
David Cameron took office in 2010. She was demoted from the cabinet to a
middle-ranking FCO post in 2012 and became minister for faith and communities
at the same time.
She tweeted on Tuesday morning: "With deep regret I have this morning written to
the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt
policy on #Gaza."
She grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, as one of five daughters
of Pakistani immigrants. After studying at Leeds University she later worked
for the Crown Prosecution Service before setting up her own legal practice.
In her resignation later she said the government's current stance
on Gaza is "morally
indefensible, is not in Britain's national interest and will have a long term
effect on our reputation internationally and domestically".
Lady Warsi also claimed there is "great unease" in the
Foreign Office over "the
way recent decisions are being made".
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The PM regrets that Baroness Warsi has decided
to stand down and is grateful for the excellent work that she has done both as
a minister and in opposition.
"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."
Chancellor George Osborne, however, called the resignation
"disappointing and frankly unnecessary".
Speaking on LBC Radio, London Mayor Boris Johnson, said he had "great respect" for
Lady Warsi, and hoped "she
will be back as soon as possible."
Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July, which to date
has killed 1,800 Palestinians and 67 Israelis causing outcry across the globe.
Lady Warsi had called for action on Gaza via Twitter before her
resignation. On 21 July, she Tweeted:"The
killing of innocent civilians must stop. Need immediate ceasefire in #Gaza.
Leadership required on both sides to stop this suffering."
Three days later she added: "Can people stop trying to justify the killing of
children. Whatever our politics there can never be justification, surely only
regret #Gaza."
In her first interview since her resignation, Lady Warsi told the
Huffington Post: "The
British government can only play a constructive role in solving the Middle East
crisis if it is an honest broker, and at the moment I do not think it is."
"As the minister for the International Criminal Court, I’ve
spent the last two and a half years helping to promote, support and fund the
ICC. I felt I could not reconcile this with our continued pressure on the
Palestinian leadership not to turn to the ICC to seek justice."
The British Foriegn Office is 'urgently investigating' claims that
a British aid worker has been killed in Gaza, according
to reports from British media.
British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond called the rising death
toll caused by the Gaza offensive“intolerable” and
called for a long-term humanitarian ceasefire on both sides.
He added that “a
broad swathe” of British public opinion felt “deeply disturbed by what it is
seeing on its television screens coming out of Gaza.”
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