Open Letter to Mehdi Hasan and the New Statesman

Dear Mr. Hasan,

Your piece ‘Not a dull grey man in a suit’ about the relationship between Baroness Warsi and the Conservative party had what I call a number of lazy assumptions. As a card carrying Conservative since 2000, I know a thing or two about my party. Add to that, I am a woman, black and also Muslim. I also know Sayeeda on a personal level and find her business minded yet down to earth, she is plain talking easy to understand and relate to. That’s why I find your article in the New Statesman unfair, not only did it manipulate the truth but it painted the Baroness as an unable woman.

Under Baroness Warsi’s chairmanship and while in government [parties usually do badly at the ballot box whilst in government] the Conservatives did better than expected during the 2011 local elections and very well in the Alternative Vote referendum. Nonetheless, most party members’ frustration with Warsi come from the feeling that she is invisible when the party or its leadership is under attack. I see you covered yourself regarding recent events by claiming ‘your sources’ had informed you that she wasn’t asked to take to the airwaves on the Monday morning because the decision had already been taken to send out Maude and Michael Fallon. However, last year during and after the London Riots where her no nonsense Northern charm would have been a tremendous help she was nowhere to be seen. Also her interview with Andrew Neil about party membership [her brief] wasn’t helpful.

There is no denying in many areas the Baroness is doing a great job – confronting Nick Griffin on Question Time and the extremist Anjem Choudary on Newsnight are testament to her abilities and no other Tory could have handled both men better than she did. But it is that level of skirmish that grassroots and party members expect form her when the party is under attack, and when she vanishes they feel disappointed and letdown. Now, if as your sources say, Downing Street has decided not to use her then they [Downing Street] are doing both her and the party a disservice!

Nonetheless, here is where your laziness shine through; Judged by the intensity and sheer volume of the anti-Warsi vitriol, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than that her critics don’t like her because she ticks three very un-Tory boxes: she is female, Asian and Muslim. Since it is 2012 and they can’t say as much in public, her right-wing opponents target instead her alleged lack of “competence” and “ability”.

Here is a genuine question for you, do you actually believe that, or is that what you and the left are prepared to accept because it is what makes you feel righteous ……

Finally, thank you for acknowledging our progress, a 450% increase in one parliament is not a small task but it is only the beginning.

Yours sincerely

Walaa Idris