Baroness Warsi 'forced to pull out' of Doha Debates due to Tory pressure

Thursday, 28 October 2010 16:15

There was a curious piece of news in the Evening Standard yesterday (hat tip: Islamophobia Watch) on Baroness Warsi being “forced” to renege on a commitment to present a counter argument to the motion ‘This House believes France is right to ban the face veil’, at the famed Doha Debates due to “government pressure”.

The Daily Telegraph today repeats the story with the paper reporting that, “…the Conservative Party chairman cancelled her appearance at the "eleventh hour", in what has been viewed as an illustration of the Coalition Government's determination to distance itself from any possible links or suspicions of sympathies with radical Islam.”

The paper quotes Nabila Ramdani, the French journalist with whom Baroness Warsi was to partner up in arguing against the motion. Ramdani claims that Warsi "pulled out of my team at the eleventh hour because of government pressure".

"Baroness Warsi was due to debate alongside me, arguing that the banning of the niqab and the burka breached a basic right to wear what you like in a civilised society.

"There was no question of either of us supporting extremism, but somebody in the British Government clearly thought otherwise.

"It may well be that somebody very senior ordered her not to get on the plane to Doha at the very last minute."

The allegation is strange indeed given that other senior Conservatives, Immigration minister Damian Green, and Environment secretary Caroline Spelman, have both spoken out against entertaining any similar ban in the UK. Green rejected suggestions of a ban on the niqab or burqa as “un-British” and Spelman said, "I don't, living in this country as a woman, want to be told what I can and can't wear."

Perhaps all the more bizarre with the Home Office reporting news from the Home Secretary, Theresa May’s visit to Pakistan where she is said to have told an audience of women in Lahore on Monday that “A ban on what citizens can wear in the street would be an attack on the rights of freedom of speech and freedom of worship as we define them in the UK.”

The Daily Telegraph further reports that “Her decision not to take part in the debate follows allegations that David Cameron banned Lady Warsi from attending a prominent Muslim conference in London last weekend.”

The ‘prominent Muslim conference’ in question was the Global Peace and Unity event which took place in London’s Excel Centre last weekend.

Some disclosure and transparency would be most welcome on these matters given the contradictory signals and suggestions we seem to be witnessing. And one way to surely get disclosure is to write to the Baroness herself, copying to the Prime Minister, David Cameron. Details of postal address and House of Lords office number for Baroness Warsi are below;

Write to:

The Rt. Hon. (the) Baroness Sayeeda Warsi,
House of Lords,
London SW1A 0PW

Or call on 020 7219 6097.