Britain's state minister Sayeeda Warsi arrives for a cabinet meeting at Number 10 Downing Street in London August 29, 2013.
One of five daughters in a Pakistani immigrant family, Sayeeda Warsi's is a remarkable success story.
It is ironical that the woman regarded as the changing face of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party ended up embarrassing his government. Baroness Warsi, 43, resigned today over her country's stand on the Gaza crisis, declaring it "morally indefensible."
She had served as the senior minister of state at the foreign and commonwealth office and a minister for faith and communities since 2012.
On her website, the politician credits her values to her father, who started life in the UK as a mill-worker and went on to own a very successful company.
It was his values of "freedom, responsibility and aspiration," she says, that pushed the Leeds University graduate to work for the Crown Prosecution Service, set up her own legal practice and eventually join the Conservative Party.
A year after an unsuccessful run for election in 2006 from her hometown, Ms Warsi was elevated to the House of Lords. At 36, she was one of the youngest women in Parliament. She made her stint memorable by taking a strong stand against racial profiling, forced marriage and online paedophilic rackets.
In 2010, she was appointed a Minister without Portfolio by Cameron - the first Muslim to serve in a British Cabinet. Simultaneously, she breached another bastion - becoming the first Asian to chair the Conservative Party.
For the Western world, it was a landmark moment - photos of Warsi in a salwar-kameez outside 10, Downing Street went viral on social media.
In 2012, this "Northern, working-class roots, urban, working mum", as she's described on her website, was appointed senior minister of foreign affairs and faith groups.
But later that year, her career suffered a setback - when she was found guilty of breaching ministerial code. An inquiry concluded her infraction was "minor." She was removed as party chair.
It is ironical that the woman regarded as the changing face of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party ended up embarrassing his government. Baroness Warsi, 43, resigned today over her country's stand on the Gaza crisis, declaring it "morally indefensible."
She had served as the senior minister of state at the foreign and commonwealth office and a minister for faith and communities since 2012.
On her website, the politician credits her values to her father, who started life in the UK as a mill-worker and went on to own a very successful company.
It was his values of "freedom, responsibility and aspiration," she says, that pushed the Leeds University graduate to work for the Crown Prosecution Service, set up her own legal practice and eventually join the Conservative Party.
A year after an unsuccessful run for election in 2006 from her hometown, Ms Warsi was elevated to the House of Lords. At 36, she was one of the youngest women in Parliament. She made her stint memorable by taking a strong stand against racial profiling, forced marriage and online paedophilic rackets.
In 2010, she was appointed a Minister without Portfolio by Cameron - the first Muslim to serve in a British Cabinet. Simultaneously, she breached another bastion - becoming the first Asian to chair the Conservative Party.
For the Western world, it was a landmark moment - photos of Warsi in a salwar-kameez outside 10, Downing Street went viral on social media.
In 2012, this "Northern, working-class roots, urban, working mum", as she's described on her website, was appointed senior minister of foreign affairs and faith groups.
But later that year, her career suffered a setback - when she was found guilty of breaching ministerial code. An inquiry concluded her infraction was "minor." She was removed as party chair.
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