Statement by the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom on the Appointment of Sayeeda Warsi, as Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion

Dr Nile Gardiner is Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the The Heritage Foundation in Washington DC and Sally McNamara is Senior Policy Analyst in European Affairs for the Thatcher Center.

The appointment by the Conservative Party of Sayeeda Warsi as shadow minister for Community Cohesion sends the wrong signal at a time when Britain is fighting a global war against Islamic terrorism and extremism, both domestically and internationally. Mrs. Warsi has been a fierce critic of British anti-terror policy, stating that anti-terrorism legislation had turned Britain into a “police state”. According to The Times, in a 2006 article for the Asian newspaper Awaaz, written while serving as vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, Warsi described the Government’s anti-terror proposals as “enough to tip any normal young man into the realms of a radicalized fanatic.” She also wrote that “if terrorism is the use of violence against civilians, then where does that leave us in Iraq?”

In a BBC-reported press conference outside Downing Street in 2005 just days after the 7/7 bombings, Warsi urged the British government to engage with Islamic extremist groups:

“We must engage with, not agreeing with, the radical groups who we have said in the past are complete nutters. We need to bring these groups into the fold of the democratic process. As long as we exclude them and don’t hear them out, we will allow them to continue their hate. It may not achieve results immediately, but it may stop the immediate violence.”

Warsi also dismissed the idea that pressure should be placed upon British Muslims to root out extremists within their midst, commenting that “when you say this is something that the Muslim community needs to weed out, or deal with, that is a very dangerous step to take.” She also urged a public debate over the possible linkage between issues such as the American Guantanamo Bay detention facility and the Iraq war, and the 7/7 bombings: “Although the government may not accept that these were the causes for 7 July, to go into denial mode is not the way forward.”

Sayeeda Warsi has been highly critical of the war in Iraq, and called upon former Prime Minister Tony Blair to apologise for the war, an extraordinary statement at a time when thousands of British soldiers are putting their lives on the line every day.  She has also made a series of other controversial foreign policy statements in recent years, on issues ranging from Hamas to Kashmir. In a January 2006 BBC Any Questions? debate, Warsi welcomed the election of Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hamas, a brutal movement officially proscribed as a terrorist group by the British Government. Hamas murdered 377 Israelis in 425 terrorist attacks between September 2000 and March 2004, including 52 suicide attacks.  Despite Hamas’s track record, as part of the BBC panel Warsi told her audience:

“I think what’s happened in the Middle East with the election of Hamas is actually an opportunity and I think that’s the way we’ve got to see it. When groups that practice violence are suddenly propelled into power through a democratic process they get responsibility and responsibility can be a tremendously taming factor. And I think that Hamas, when it realizes that it wants a safe and stable and prosperous Palestine for its people, will realize that the way to deal with that is through dialogue and democracy and not through violence… I actually think that Hamas has been given a mandate and I think it will now hopefully adopt a responsible position because that is the only way.”

Warsi has also entered the fray over the highly sensitive issue of Kashmir and, according to the Press Association, suggested in a July 2005 BBC One Politics Show interview that new anti-terror laws should not prevent support among Britons for “freedom fighters” in Kashmir. Comparing Islamic rebels in the disputed province with Nelson Mandela and the ANC, Warsi observed that:

“We have a community in Britain, a Pakistani and Kashmiri community, who holds a very, very strong view about Kashmir and the scope of freedom-fighting in Kashmir. It would concern me if… the definition of terrorism was to cover maybe (the) legitimate freedom-fight in Kashmir.”

It should be noted that Britain currently outlaws no less than six Kashmiri terrorist organizations: Harakat Ul-Jihad-Ul Islami, Harakat-Ul-Mujahideen/Alami and Jundallah, Harakat Mujahideen, Jaish e Mohammed, Khuddam Ul-Islam and splinter group Jamaat Ul-Furquan, and Lashkar e Tayyaba.  It is hard to see how such extreme views will actually enhance “community cohesion” in Britain’s inner cities, and it is difficult to think of a more explosive issue than Kashmir in fomenting tensions between British citizens of Pakistani and Indian origin.

As Britain faces a mounting terrorist threat in the coming months from al-Qaeda linked Islamic terrorist groups, it is imperative that leaders across the political spectrum unequivocally condemn all forms of terrorism, whether it be in London, Kashmir or the Palestinian territories. At the same time they should refuse to engage with or appease radical groups that have sympathies for terrorist groups and the use of violence. If Britain is to win the war against Islamic terrorism, there must be a united front in defeating the greatest threat to national security since the Second World War.

***
ConservativeHome has offered Sayeeda Warsi a full right of reply to this piece.

Comments

[Nick]

Interesting series of quotes, many of which I'd not seen before.

Not a subtle attack on Warsi, but it does raise the question of whether Community Cohesion actually means Community Appeasement.

[Hawk]

The appointment of Warsi is a disgrace. Cameron's only done it because she couldn't get a seat and it's a sop to the PC brigade to let her have a prominent role. She doesn't speak for conservatives and, god forbid, she ever speaks for Britain on life and death issues like terrorism.

[HF]

What on earth is the point of posting this stuff on here? I am very disappointed that the Editor would allow attacks on a member of our shadow cabinet from a body outside the Conservative party.

[Umbrella man]

Let's not forget this: Sayeeda Warsi calls for rejected asylum seekers to be given limited right to work.

[Jennifer Wells]

The disappointing thing HF is that SW was appointed to the shadow cabinet.

[tiles]

This article has just made me see her in a better light. I think it probably says more about the people who wrote it than it does her.

I don't think she needs a right of reply - she can let this article speak for itself. very poor!

These are the kind of people who got us into iraq in the first place. One sandwich short of a picnic.

[Donal Blaney]

Thank goodness for Nile Gardiner. If only we had organisations of the power and principle of the Heritage Foundation here in the UK then the conscience of conservatism would truly be kept alive.

[Graham Checker]

I agree. Warsi has been appointed because she is female and a Muslim. And for no other reason.

Whatever the shadow cabinet say in public, that will be the reason they cited either privately, or in their own minds when considering the post.

Big mistake.

[uda]

I agree with HF - keep coming to this blog in the hope of detecting a more balanced tone, but looking at today's links, one could be forgiven for thinking this is a pro-Labour blog. Please ask yourselves what you're trying to achieve? Cameron has most of the press, the BBC and Sky against him and all you can do is criticise his every move - thereby handing ammunition to unimaginative, nasty Labour and LD supporters. You ARE a self-indulgent right-wing debating society.

[Tory T]

Hear, hear HF. Mrs Warsi, or is she already Baroness Warsi, makes the serious and pragmatic point that sometimes the only way to lance the terrorist boil is to hold your nose and deal with them. Nobody hates IRA terrorism more than I do, but it is a fact that gritting our teeth and dealing with them brought them into democracy and ultimately we have peace in NI - and it's still part of the UK.

I detest and loathe Hamas but I recognise that doing the same things in Palestine we have always done will lead to the same results (one reason I support the Israeli fence). At conference I attended a Conservative Friends of Israel event, Mrs. Warsi was there offering her support.

I don't agree with everything Mrs (Lady) Warsi says, but I know she wants to end terrorism as much as the next Tory and we need to understand the Muslim point of view on this.

She sits in Cabinet alongside Michael Gove, one of our foremost advocates against extremist Islamic terrorism and I am very glad to see a Tory party that has a place at the top table for both.

[Richard]

"What on earth is the point of posting this stuff on here? I am very disappointed that the Editor would allow attacks on a member of our shadow cabinet from a body outside the Conservative party."

Are you denying her quotes are what she actually said? If she has controversial opinions like these we are entitled to know about them.

[Dr Graeme Archer]

Conservative Home's really going out of its way to help the Prime Minister, innit? Well done chaps!

I was actually in two minds about Sayeeda Warsi until reading the article by this American pressure group (I mean, the Margaret Thatcher "center"? We're not in Grantham any more are we?) who have come online to tell me Sayeeda is a Bad Thing because she is on record for saying that Blair should apologise for the war. May I add my own unimportant voice to that of Sayeeda's? Blair should not only apologise for that war, he should face criminal charges for it. Have we become Neocon Home? Do these Margaret Thatcher Center People believe there's something beyond the pale about thinking the Iraq war is a disaster? Uh, hello?

As to what Sayeeda said on Question Time about Hamas. It's always dangerous to perform textual analysis on decontextualised, carefully selected remarks- but, to me, Sayeeda is simply taking exactly the same line that was rammed down my Orange throat about Ulster. We (cultural unionists) had to swallow our distaste and accept negotiation with murderers because getting them involved in the democratic process would ultimately lead to a reduction in terror. I disliked strongly parts of the journey of the Northern Ireland peace process but must admit that had the world been carved according to my own opinion, we would not have reached the peaceful place we are today. Thank God for leaders like David Trimble. Hamas are disgusting terrorists too of course but they were elected. I thought that was the central dogma of neocon policy?

Of course I don't know them, but I'm willing to bet that "Dr" Nile Gardiner (I could write paragraphs of deconstruction about the use of that "Dr"), Sally McNamara and the entire Center for Margaret Thatcher studies know a **** of a lot less about the problems Britain faces in dealing with homegrown Islamicist terror than does Sayeeda. I might think (for example) that her views on homosexuality are disgusting, but I'd rather listen to her thoughts on how to deal with Muslim youth anyday than undergo further lectures from foreign neocon thinktanks.

And that, I think, is what rankles most about this piece. Edited by people who purport to wish to see a Conservative government returned, this site has chosen to give publicity to a foreign think-tank who want to trash a member of our shadow team. I can think of lots of things I'd like to challenge Sayeeda about - why not organise a meeting at conference? why not invite her to be interviewed? But I want the space to do that within the Tory family. Conservative Home is becoming a disgrace.

[Londoner]

Maybe not everything Sayeeda has said has been totally judicious, but on the whole I think these Americans should shut up and stop interfering in our domestic politics. Sorry mates, but both UK parties are going to have their own policies now; and we'll take just as much notice at noises off from the opposite side of the Atlantic as our US cousins do!

It's a pity that Mrs Thatcher, whom I love to bits, has lent her name to this "Center", which I have never previously heard of but which may be more aligned to US interests than our own. As it was founded in the name of a British leader, couldn't they even call it "Centre"? After all we refer to 9/11, not 11/9.

Happy Independence Day to all you merry American insurrectionists. God bless George III ! Goodness you are so lucky to have George Bush II compared with our Elizabeth II.

[ToMTom]

and we need to understand the Muslim point of view on this.

Which Muslims does she represent ? Surely Shahid Malik has a better claim to be representative of those in Dewsbury

[Adam]

The problem for S Warsi is that she plays to 2 galleries. One is the Pakistani community where she says what they want to hear on iraq, terror etc. Had she said that the groups in Kashmir such as those mentioned in the aricle were terrorists she would have been branded a traitor by her pakistani community. To then get into favour with Michael Howard/David Cameron she talks about the union jack and over corrects herself and becomes a little englander. For example she has previously been a champion of controlled immigration and championed it at the last election, then talked of letting rejected asylum seekers work! This is why she didn't find a good seat and the only way she was going to get anywhere was if she was given a peerage which unsurprisingly in Cameron's PC world it happened so that he could show that he was a friend of the ethnics.

[Editor]

For the record, Londoner, Nile and Sally are both Brits living and working in DC.

[Perdix]

Dr Graeme 10.05 - this is a neocon site and will do as much damage to the Conservative Party as the neocons did to the Republican Party.

[Tam Large]

Actually, she talks a lot of sense. This has made me appreciate her more... A good appointment.

[Londoner]

Thank you Editor. Perhaps if they still lived over here they'd have a better idea about (a) what might foster good community relations in our British cities and (b) how angry the majority us are at the Bush/Blair axis.

Or maybe I'll find an American friend who has been working over here for a few years to pontificate about community relations in the rougher parts of Washington DC.

[malcolm]

I too would hope Tim that you will give Sayeed Warsi the right of reply. I don't like what she has to say about either Hamas or Kashmir but I assume that she knows a hell of a lot more about the feelings and motivations of the muslims in our country than someone who lives in Washington.
I notice that Nile Gardiner calls for a 'united front' to defeat terrorism. United with whom?

[Londoner]

And maybe, Editor, you should start meeting your promise to send us contributors our mugs, instead of spending so much time promoting these people. Any more of this American neocon stuff, and perhaps I should get the trading standards people on to you! But maybe that would have to be Washington DC trading standards dept.

[Benet Northcote]

I wouldn't claim to know Sayeeda; but on the few occasions I have met her, I have been very impressed. She is a first class politician; and thoroughly hard working and committed Conservative to boot.

I agree with tiles and Graeme that this article reflects more on the prejudices of the authors than their subject.

The authors appear to have a black-and-white view of the world; they illustrate no understanding of the subtleties involved in defeating home-grown terrorism in the UK. Rather, they attack someone who has attempted to address those subtleties.

This article is an inadequately argued piece; as a result it falls into a trap of appearing to be simple personal abuse. I think the Editor should demand higher editorial standards from his contributors.

[kingbongo]

Graeme Archer is right (as he he often is). This article actually makes me like her more. She has views on other issues where I beleive she is profoundly wrong but the whole tenor of this piece is all of a piece with this site's deterioration into a rant factory for disaffected fundamentalists.

I didn't complete the survey this month for the first time and won't in future.

This is no longer an interesting, vibrant and challenging place.

[anthony scholefield]

British politics is getting infected by the same effects as the the USA where there is s a rise in 'clientilismo' politics when trying to grab the ethnic vote who the old fashioned Etonian-Westminster types view as little brown people who will follow their community leaders.
The infantilization of the ethnics means you get oppurtunistic types in politics such as the PPCs selected by the Tories in Ealing Southall and Gillingham. The thought processes-if you can call them that- of Cameron and Maude seem to be that if you put a brown face up as a Tory candidate you will get brown votes and at least BBC support. The fact that your candidate was not a party member till yesterday and has zilch commitment is not important.
Pity that the possibility thatAsian voters could be influenced away from client politics -so common in their homelands -if the tories and other parties put up principled canidates and did not worry about measuring their candidates against some sort of Nuremberg law classification of the voters in a constituency.

[realcon]

Talk of 'communities' and people 'speaking for the community' makes me ill.

[Alan S]

Comparing what the west is trying (not very successfully) to do in Iraq (ie bring democracy to a land until recently ruled by a tyrant) to terrorism shows a terrible lack of judgment. If she really thinks Britain is close to being a police state then she should go and speak to people who really do live in police states.

[Lizzie]

These comments threaten to undo all the advances that the conservative party ahve made in changing their image, something I would have thought David Cameron would have considered deeply before making such an odd decision. As much as it is important to have a representative shadow cabinet, this must not come at the price of risking the party's credibility.

The conservative party is not in the position to be able to take risks on such a person.

[RodS]

We didn't need an American based Think Tank to tell us that this appointment is yet another PR stunt. How many more vipers are we going to clasp to our bosom in the name of modernising.

Not all muslims are suicide bombers - but all suicide bombers seem to be muslims. We should not be asked to fit in with them - quite the reverse.Who exactly is Sayeeda Warsi going to speak for - certainly not anyone I know !!

[Tory T]

ConservativeHome is definitely a friend of our party. Let's not get carried away. Look at how hard Tim and Sam are working to promote the campaign in Ealing Southall! The piece yesterday on Cameron's wonderful destruction of the stammering Brown was great. But I would just gently suggest, on the issues highlighted like the tax piece today, that it's not only David Cameron who should remember the "and theory", and that lately all the stuff coming out has been concentrating on one side of the equation?

[Louise]

Quite right for publishing this and highlighting what a DISGRACEFUL appointment this is. There will be many Tory party members who simply cannot vote for a party which has this woman in the Shadow Cabinet.

[Apoplectic Tory]

Tokenism by Cameron!

[Editor]

Fair point, Tory T. We do need to do more to remember the 'greener, gentler' half of the And theory. I had been making more efforts to do so and will redouble my efforts.

[Matt Wright]

This is a very important debate we must get right in the West. I don't know all the details of what Warsi bellieves but get the impression that she feels we must have cohesion to beat the terrorists. That is my view anyway. We will never beat this terrorism unless we have the nation pulling together, providing information and ratting on anyone involved with terrorism or radical training etc. This is the lesson of history. The terrorists want conflict, fear and violence between ethnic groups in the UK. Our aim and the Govts aim must be to get the country to pull together and to encourage moderate engagement and democracy. No "war on terrorism" (whatever that means) will ever be won by waging war alone. We are not getting the balance right here and we urgently need to,

Matt

[Adam]

More nonsense from Nile I see. I wonder if, one day, he'll write something I can agree with...

[Cllr Tony Sharp]

I cannot believe some of the stuff I am reading on this page. Are we to assume that opinions and views, concerning an appointment some people think is controversial and others think is appropriate, should be stuffed under the carpet and not discussed?

I am always wary of people, regardless of the merit of their argument, who seek to close down a discussion or censor it to prevent it taking place. That is not democratic and it suggests we have something to hide.

At least if these observations and assertions are aired it gives people an opportunity to comment on them and use evidence and compelling argument to back up their position. The Editor has not taken sides, in my view he has simply enabled people to comment on an article.

[LiberalTory]

Nile and Sally are obviously a couple of prejudiced neo-Cons who love Britain so much that they left the country.

Sayeeda lives and works in Britain and is not afraid to speak her mind. This means that she has upset both neo-Cons who would like to rule over the Middle East through violence as well as terrorists who want to rule over us. Both the neo-Cons and those who support terrorism are as evil as each other. We should be proud to have Sayeeda Warsi. Why should she bother to post a reply to such filth? Well done David Cameron!

[Sean Fear]

I'm not sure whether the anger directed at the Editor for publishing this piece is because Sayeeda Warsi has been mirepresented, or because she has been correctly represented.

[Umbrella man]

Noone has questioned what has been attributed to Sayeea Warsi Sean. I think they want ConservativeHome to become like Conservatives.com and a cheerleader for everything the party does.

[Paul Oakley]

Criticism of the Blair/Bush foreign policy does not necessarily equate to support for terrorists. Indeed, Iraq is clearly an "East of Suez" escapade in an area where the UK has no interests whatsoever. Unfortunately, Ms Warsi goes too far with her implicit sympathy for Hamas and Kashmiri rebels and it is right that Tim highlights this piece. Self-evidently, the party leadership hopes that members of the shadow cabinet will be members of the government in due course. It would be unacceptable for our future foreign policy to be moulded by such views.

[George Hinton]

Was DC aware of the contents of this article prior to her appointment?
If not, then why was it not brought to his attention
And if he was aware, then just what on earth is he playing at. This is an own goal. This is an insult to our troops.
This definitely sends the wrong message to the radicals. OR PERHAPS they have been following the IRA and will use the bomb and the ballot to achieve their murderous aims of installing the Caliphate.

[jorgen]

I am horrified about the appointment of Sayeeda Warsi. I found it wrong (but typical Cameron-PC) to appoint a Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion, but to appoint one with viewpoints that are highly unhelpful in the war on Islamic terrorism, is a disgrace.

[Dontmakemelaugh]

Editor: Thank you for the piece about Sayeeda Warsi; the more we know about the people that want to govern us and their agenda the better.

I am looking forward to Sayeeda Warsi organising and leading marches with large Muslim contingents carrying placards against terrorism, "Not In My Name". I am sure that Cameron will talk her into doing it. Surely she isn't just a mouthpiece for the self appointed MCB?

[Cllr Tony Sharp]

I agree with Sean and to some extent with Umbrella Man.

I just cannot understand those people who would prefer readers of this site to be denied the opportunity to construct an informed view on various subjects because they feel uncomfortable reading some of the subject matter.

If some people find an item like the article above too challenging or uncomfortable then they must be nervous wrecks during an election campaign.

[Sean Fear]

"Both the neo-Cons and those who support terrorism are as evil as each other"

That's a bit like arguing for moral equivalence between the West and the Soviet Union.

[surreyresident]

Editor

One more voice unhappy that carping about the leadership is given such prominence by you. Healthy debate and differences of view are healthy but the balance does seem to tilt toward providing a platform for negative comment. The harm this does the party contributes to negating all the good work you do.

[Editor]

Those reading Sean's post above should know that 'Liberal Tory' said "Both the neo-Cons and those who support terrorism are as evil as each other".

[Victor, NW Kent]

Do I have to agree with everything that someone says in order to appreciate that the person has worthwhile views? I think not.
Sayeeda Warsi has a different perspective to me on many things but I find her balanced and articulate.
If she challenged Blair on Iraq then she was doing what every sane person should have done. It has nothing whatsoever to with support for our troops - that is another issue entirely and is thrown up only to soil objectors to badly conceived military adventures.
I am sorry that a way could not be found for her to enter the House of Commons where she would have been an asset.
I deplore the prevailing trend to trash all women politicians such as Warsi, Spelman,Harman & Jacqui Smith as though they are lesser beings than us brilliant males. Not every women in Parliament is a Hewitt, not every man is a Churchill.

[jorgen]

The harm this does the party contributes to negating all the good work you do.

ConHome is not a party web-site but a forum for Conservatives (though pestered by 'c'onservatives like yourself). Both the CP and DC have their own sites.

[ToMTom]

what might foster good community relations in our British cities

What is this Community ? It is sociological twaddle and virtual reality.

There are no communities outside Sociology textbooks...this is the kind of collectivist dirigisme that people loathe from the political class

[malcolm]

Liberal Tory is a troll whose opinions should be diregarded.