- Decision is reflection of “how far right my party has moved”.
- Sayeeda Warsi says she will not be gagged on point of principle.
- Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman are not above law, says Baroness.
LONDON: Former Conservative Party co-chairwoman and cabinet minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has resigned the party’s whip in the House of Lords after being subjected to an inquiry for supporting Marieha Hussain, the British Pakistani teacher who was acquitted last week in the court after the “Coconut Placard Trial”.
Lady Warsi, who served in the cabinet during David Cameron’s premiership, said the party no longer resembled the one she represented in government. She was Britain’s first Muslim cabinet minister.
She claimed a Conservative Party investigation over alleged “divisive language” was because of her support for Hussain, who was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence during a pro-Palestine protest in November last year.
Hussain had been photographed holding a placard with Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman surrounded by coconuts.
Announcing her resignation in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Baroness Warsi said: “It is with a heavy heart that I have today informed my whip and decided for now to no longer take the Conservative whip. This is a sad day for me. I am a Conservative and [will] remain so but sadly the current party are far removed from the party I joined and served in Cabinet. My decision is a reflection of how far right my party has moved and the hypocrisy and double standards in its treatment of different communities. A timely reminder of the issues that I raise in my book Muslims Don’t Matter.”
Warsi wrote she was prompted to resign over comments from some in the Conservative Party over the acquittal of Hussain, who was found not guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence on September 13.
She said: “I will not be gagged on a point of principle. And I am not prepared to play games behind closed doors. If Rishi Sunak’s party wants to retry and replay the ‘coconut trial’ despite the acquittal of Hussain, the clear legal findings and the overwhelming expert witness testimonies then I wish to do so publicly and transparently.
“It would be unfair to do this whilst continuing to take the Conservatives whip. I realise I have the privilege of platform and I have decided to exercise that privilege by speaking truth to power.”
The baroness added that a court of law found Hussain not guilty. “Whatever Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman think of that decision, that is the rule of law and they are not above the law.
“I applaud the court’s decision and judgement of Judge Vanessa Lloyd, the overwhelming evidence of multiple academics and other expert witnesses. It was the right decision and I rightly congratulated Marieha on her acquittal. I was subsequently asked to delete my public support for Marieha — I refused to do so.
“That is the basis of the complaint. No other comments or language is the basis of the complaint. The case was due to be conducted in private behind closed doors, I was not told who the complainant was and this is material considering the detail of bad faith practice the court heard about during the trial. I was also told I could not discuss the matter with others. It was effectively to be a secret retrial of the ‘Coconut Trial’, I was not prepared to accept this.
“I felt it appropriate in the circumstances to resign my whip and look forward to dealing with these issues openly and transparently in the coming weeks and months.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Complaints were received regarding divisive language by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. Baroness Warsi was informed an investigation was about to begin earlier this week.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that all complaints are investigated without prejudice.”
Lady Warsi was appointed to the House of Lords in 2007. She first served in government as a minister without portfolio from 2010 until 2012. She later became a foreign minister and held a faith and communities brief until 2014. She resigned in disagreement with the party’s policy on the Israel-Gaza war in August that year. Lady Warsi later became a critic of the Conservative Party while representing the party in the Lords.
Last week, the British Pakistani school teacher and campaigner Hussain told Geo News she is relieved that she was honourably acquitted of a racially aggravated public order offence over the “coconut” placard but questioned the role of Britain’s institutions for prosecuting her at the first place for criticising former prime minister Sunak and former home secretary Suella.
A judge at the Westminster Magistrates Court declared that Hussain was not guilty of the racially aggravated public order offence and that she was honest and consistent in her account and her views.
In November 2023, the Metropolitan Police published her “coconut” placard picture — taken during a march for Palestine and published first by pro-Zionism blog Harry’s place — asking the public for help to identify her.
Immediately afterwards, she was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), she lost her job, her family home address was published by the right-wing media, her house was besieged and her whole family was harassed by the right-wing media.
Speaking to The News and Geo at her home in High Wycombe, Hussain said she has no regrets on carrying the placard, would continue to campaign for justice for Palestinians and would never shy away from calling out racism and Islamophobia.
She said: “I made the placard myself, showing a palm tree with coconuts, Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman underneath. This meant that Rishi and Suella are coconuts, brown on the outside and white on the inside. The court accepted it was a political critique and not racist. The placard was a criticism of their racist and Islamophobic policies that were harmful only to the black people, brown people, immigrants and particularly to the Muslim communities.”
Hussain, who has two young children and was dragged through the court last week when nine months pregnant, said the whole ordeal has been very stressful for her and her family. She shared: “It was very stressful. We were afraid and scared. We were besieged by the right wing, racist media. Our lawyers and campaigning team at the CAGE charity supported us a lot. They understood we have done nothing wrong and that we will win in the end.”
The right-wing media published addresses and pictures of her father who is a consultant dermatologist with the National Health Service (NHS) and set up camps outside his home. “The racist media put out his pictures and shared details of my parents’ house. My father was not in the UK event at the time of the protest but he was attacked. My whole family came together and supported me. When the judge found me not guilty, all of us were emotional, we cried and hugged each other in the court.”
Hussain lamented that institutional racism have grown in the UK over the years and her case is a big example of that. She said: “In the last ten years, I have been protesting at the Palestine marches so I was aware how things work out. We understood how double standards work and how laws are heavily against ethnic minorities, especially Muslims. I made the placard against Rishi and Suella because they spoke against Muslims, ethnic minorities, homeless and vulnerable people. I have no regrets.”
In the trial, the prosecution claimed “coconut” was a well-known racial slur. “[It has] a very clear meaning — you may be brown on the outside, but you are white on the inside,” said the prosecutor, Jonathan Bryan. “In other words, you’re a ‘race traitor’ — you’re less brown or black than you should be.”
However, Hussain argued “coconut” was “common language, particularly in our culture” and, in reference to the placard, a form of political critique. “It’s something we just grew up with,” she said. “It was flung around easily … I remember my father calling me a coconut in my teen years.”
The district judge, Vanessa Lloyd, ruled the placard was “part of the genre of political satire” and the prosecution had “not proved to a criminal standard that it was abusive”.
Hussain said that she has no doubt that she would never have been prosecuted if she was not a Muslim, Pakistani and brown origin woman.
“This case speaks of double standards and hypocrisy. Millionaire Tory donor Frank Hester said on record that she wants to shoot the respected, anti-racism Black MP Diane Abbot but the CPS did nothing and have been silent for months now but the police and the CPS put me through a hell within minutes. I will not give up.”
