LONDON // A UK minister who was the first Muslim to sit in the Cabinet has resigned over British government policy on Gaza.
Sayeeda Warsi, a minister of state at the Foreign Office and minister for faith and communities, said in her resignation letter the policy was “morally indefensible, is not in Britain’s national interest and will have a long term effect on our reputation internationally and domestically”.
Baroness Warsi’s parents were Pakistani immigrants and she was made a member of the House of Lords in 2007.
She was appointed to prime minister David Cameron’s Cabinet when his coalition government took power in 2010 and while she initially had a high media profile, her star had dimmed in recent years.
She was demoted from the full Cabinet, the powerful inner circle of government ministers, in 2012.
Mr Cameron’s coalition government has drawn criticism, including from the opposition Labour party, for not taking a tougher line against Israel over operations in Gaza.
He said on Monday that the UN was “right” to condemn the shelling of a UN school in Gaza which killed 10 people on Sunday but declined to say whether he thought it breached international law.
* Agence France-Presse
