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BEEN IN THE WARS

Who is Baroness Warsi?

BARONESS Sayeeda Warsi made history as first woman to attend Cabinet.

But why did she resign, who is she married to, and does she have children? Here's everything you need to know.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi made history as first woman to attend cabinet
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Baroness Sayeeda Warsi made history as first woman to attend cabinetCredit: Not known, clear with picture desk

Who is Baroness Sayeeda Warsi?

Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-Chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012.

She was the first Muslim woman to attend Cabinet .

Baroness Warsi was born in Yorkshire on March 28, 1971, to Pakistani immigrants as the second of five daughters.

Warsi was educated at Birkdale High School, Dewsbury College, and the University of Leeds.

She attended the College of Law, York, and completed her professional legal training thereafter with both the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office Immigration Department.

After qualifying as a solicitor in 1996, she worked for the Conservative MP for Dewsbury, John Whitfield, at Whitfield Hallam Goodall Solicitors - where she later set up a practice in Dewsbury.

In 2004 she gave up her £130,000 salary as a solicitor to stand for parliament in Dewsbury.

Despite losing, she was sworn in as Baroness Warsi of Dewsbury in 2007, allowing her to ascend to the shadow cabinet and become Tory party Chairman, with specific responsibility for cities.

On joining the House of Lords, she became its youngest member.

Why did Baroness Sayeeda Warsi resign from government?

On August 5, 2014, Baroness Warsi resigned from government, describing David Cameron's position on the Israel-Gaza policy as "morally indefensible".

In her resignation letter, Warsi wrote that the UK Government's "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" and that it was "not consistent with the rule of law and our long support for international justice".

She claimed that Britain could only play a role in Middle East peace if it acted as an "honest broker", which she claimed it had refused to.

After resigning she demanded that the government impose an arms embargo on Israel, claiming that it killed 2,000 people in just four weeks.

Speaking on the matter, she said: "It appalls me that the British Government continues to allow the sale of weapons to a country, Israel, that has killed almost 2,000 people, including hundreds of kids, in the past four weeks alone. The arms exports to Israel must stop."

Her resignation highlighted cabinet rifts over foreign policy, and was considered a bitter blow to David Cameron.

Is Baroness Sayeeda Warsi married and does have children?

Warsi is married to her second husband, dad of four Iftikhar Azam, and lives with him in Wakefield with their five children.

She married Iftikhar in 2009 in a traditional Muslim ceremony at her parents' house in Dewsbury.

In December 2016 the pair had a cameo role in the BBC One sitcom Citizen Khan.

Warsi divorced her first husband in 2007 after 17 years of arranged marriage.

They share one daughter Aamna

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