LONDON – Britain’s only Asian-origin cabinet minister and the first ever Muslim in the cabinet has been sacked from her top job as co-chair of the ruling Conservative Party, but will remain in government, albeit as one of the ministers in the UK Foreign Office.
Shortly after she was sacked as part of a cabinet reshuffle, Sayeeda Warsi posted a message on Twitter, saying how it had been “a privilege and an honour to serve my party.”
This was a far more dignified response than her appeal, only a few days earlier, when she seemed to be pleading with Prime Minister David Cameron to be allowed to keep her job.
“I’m a woman, I’m not white, I’m from an urban area, I’m from the North, I’m working class – I kind of fit the bill. All the groups that we’re aiming for are groups that I’m familiar with.”
But Warsi’s job was on the line after a series of scandals earlier this year following allegations that she stayed at a friend’s house rent free, while simultaneously claiming accommodation expenses. She was reported to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, although a House of Lords inquiry established that she had not broken any rules.
There were other criticisms about how she allegedly failed to declare rental income from a property bought in 2007 and angry claims by her Egyptian doctor host in London, Wafik Moustafa that she had threatened to destroy bottles of alcohol that he kept in his house.
At the time Warsi responded, saying, “I take these questions very seriously- it’s why I said at the outset I would fully cooperate with any investigation.
I believe that being a member of the House of Lords is a privilege. Its why I have always ensured that my conduct, including in relation to expenses and allowances, is both in accordance with thelaw and the spirit of the rules.”
The cabinet reshuffle and a crackdown on illegal immigrants who allegedly entered the UK via a flawed student visa system has also led to speculation that Cameron could be preparing for an early, snap election.
The crackdown on so-called bogus foreign students has won the PM the full throated approval of right wingers who have long criticized what they believe are inadequate immigration checks.
According to a recent parliamentary inquiry, as many as 50,000 bogus students may have entered the UK since 2009. Some of them may have had their entry facilitated by the London Metropolitan University, which has now been stripped of its right to sponsor foreign students, following an investigation which revealed that huge numbers of its students should never have been admitted to the UK.
