Sayeeda Warsi book slams Tories’ shift rightwards

November 5, 2024 –
From Socialist Worker (UK)

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Sayeeda Warsi

Sayeeda Warsi was promoted to the House of Lords in 2007 and became the youngest peer.

A few years later, under David Cameron’s Tory government, she became Britain’s first Muslim cabinet minister.

But in 2014, Warsi felt she could no longer be part of the cabinet because of its “morally indefensible” stance towards Palestine. She resigned.

Muslims Don’t Matter is Warsi’s third book.

From the outset, she says she is done with apologising, explaining, justifying and defending the actions of any one of the two billion Muslims around the world.

She talks in depth about Islamophobia in the upper echelons of power and how it impacts the lives and opportunities for Muslims.

She wants to make it clear that many Muslims feel “othered”, unwelcome and targeted.

The thread running through the book is Warsi’s disdain at how far right the Conservative Party has become. She slams the double standards and hypocrisy when it comes to the treatment of Muslims—and in particular the case of Shamima Begum. Stripping a British national of their citizenship because they might be eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship, despite never visiting the country, is outrageous.

As a Muslim, Muslims Don’t Matter is a hard read.