11 June 2017

Britain needs to reset relations with its Muslims, insists Warsi

.... Warsi, who resigned from the cabinet in 2014 over the government’s policy on Gaza, said she has seen the UK’s Muslim community fearful, but never has she witnessed it as furious. “I’ve never seen as much anger.

The language used to describe the terrorists has never been sharper, angrier, and, I would say, the level of anger towards the terrorists from British Muslims is even greater than it is within the mainstream.”

She, too, is similarly exasperated. Her grandparents arrived in West Yorkshire from Pakistan in 1958, with her father originally securing employment as a mill worker. Born in 1971 into a working-class home in Dewsbury, Warsi made history in 2010 as Britain’s first Muslim cabinet member, becoming co-chairman of the Conservative party. Despite such achievements, however, she is aware that her Britishness remains an issue of debate.

“My family has 60 years’ history in Britain, but how long before I have to stop taking a loyalty test?” The enduring debate on multiculturalism alongside the populist instincts that convulse her political party makes Warsi wonder whether her grandchildren will actually call Britain their home. [The Guardian] Read more