Sayeeda Warsi says proud of her multiple identities

LONDON: Britain’s first female Muslim Cabinet minister, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, has said that she hoped her time in office will not be defined by her religion and, rather, the focus will remain on the key issues her government will attempt to deal with after striking a coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats.

The first female Asian frontbencher of any party was speaking to the GMTV the other day after her dazzling pictures in traditional Asian Shalwar-Kameez were flashed around the world. She posed outside the Downing Street after the coalition British cabinet’s historic first meeting. Newspapers have devoted columns to appreciate Warsi’s cool ascendance to power on the back of merit and she won plaudits for her sense of style and dressing after posing for the cameras in the dress worn by millions of women in South Asia.

It was perhaps the brightness of her colourful pink Shalwar Kameez and the matching Dupatta that the photographers assembled outside the power nerve centre loved — and sent it across the globe within seconds.

Appearing at the GMTV, she spoke of her pride in her multiple identities and how they compliment each other: “I think there are lots of parts that make me as a person in terms of my identity, my Yorkshire roots, my Asian origins, my Muslim faith, and although I don’t think that anyone of them should be highlighted, if it sends out a message and if my appointment sends out a message to other people of different faiths and different backgrounds and different ethnic origins that actually you can do this as well, then that I think is a good thing. “But I hope it doesn’t become my defining feature.”

The former solicitor from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, expressed the hope that there would be more women in the cabinet. She told the programme: “It would have more of my many, many talented female colleagues sat around that table, but the reality is that we didn’t win a majority at the last election, we are a coalition government and with a coalition government and coalition cabinet comes compromises.

“I think that’s probably been one of the compromises we have had to make.” She told The News that her elevation to the cabinet post and to the post of her party’s chair was a humbling experience, especially because these were important times in Britain’s history.

Warsi, 39, the former Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action, has replaced Eric Pickles, who became local government secretary in her new party chair role. Warsi, who was born to Pakistani immigrant parents in a working class area, said she joined the Conservative Party after being inspired by her father, who went from working in a mill to run a highly successful bed-making business.