In the first political fallout of the Gaza conflict for the David Cameron government, foreign office minister Baroness Warsi has resigned in protest against what she has called the “morally indefensible” approach and language of the government to the crisis in Gaza.
Baroness Warsi, who announced her resignation on twitter on Tuesday, said, “With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza.”
On Monday evening she was one of a select group chosen to ceremonially extinguish a candle at the World War 1 commemoration service at Westminster Abbey.
In her resignation letter, she said: “My view has been that our policy in relation to the Middle East Peace Process generally but more recently our approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible, is not in Britain's national interest and will have a long term detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically.”
The Chancellor, George Osborne, is reported to have said that her decision was unnecessary as the British government is “working with others in the world to bring peace to Gaza and we do now have a tentative ceasefire which we all hope will hold.”
In her hard-hitting letter, Baroness Warsi said that Britain’s approach is “neither consistent with our values, specifically our commitment to the rule of law and our long history of support for International Justice.”
She blamed the Cameron government’s approach for the increasing Islamisation of Muslim youth in the country.
“Early evidence from the Home Office and others,” she states in the letter, “shows that the fallout of the current conflict and the potential for the crisis in Gaza and our response to it becoming a basis for radicalisation could have consequences for us for years to come.”
Baroness Warsi’s resignation will be deeply embarrassing for the Cameron government, which is already under considerable public and political criticism for its refusal to condemn Israeli action in Gaza, as well as its continuing supply of weapons to the Israelis.
