Baroness Warsi dramatically quit as a minister over the Gaza crisis yesterday but immediately faced claims she was simply angry about being passed over for promotion.

The first Muslim to sit in Cabinet resigned as a Foreign Office minister, saying government policy towards Israel was ‘morally indefensible’ and warning it could increase the threat of home-grown terrorism from radicalised youths.

However, sources last night suggested the real reason was her failure to land a plum job in last month’s reshuffle – with one saying she even had the ‘ego’ to believe she could have been made Foreign Secretary.

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Baroness Warsi announced her shock decision to resign on Twitter this morning

Baroness Warsi, pictured outside Westminster Abbey last night, was the first Muslim woman to serve in the Cabinet and had been the senior minister of state at the Foreign Office since September 2012 In her resignation letter Baroness Warsi said the 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'

In a lengthy resignation letter to David Cameron, Lady Warsi made a series of references to the July shake-up – saying she regretted the departures of Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve, and William Hague’s decision to leave the Foreign Office.

Last night she even claimed that another minister was threatening to quit over Mr Cameron’s Gaza policy. ‘I have had a minister in a late-night conversation talking about resignation,’ she told Channel 4 News. ‘There is real concern among Conservatives.’

Meanwhile, she continued to make personal attacks on the Tory leadership – describing Chancellor George Osborne as a ‘friend of Israel’ and saying that he should have urged Tel Aviv to stop the shelling of the Gaza Strip. ‘George is a very good friend of the Israeli government,’ she said. ‘And therefore he more than anybody else should have been saying quite frankly to the Israeli government that what you are doing is not in your interests.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who is on holiday in Portugal with wife Samantha, was informed of Baroness Warsi's resignation moments before she tweeted it

CLEGG STEPS UP PRESSURE IN CALL FOR ARMS EXPORTS SUSPENSION

Nick Clegg tonight stepped up the pressure on David Cameron by demanding the suspension of arms export licences to Israel. The Deputy Prime Minister said he agreed with Baroness Warsi that there were 'serious questions' about the licences.

'It's obvious to me that however much Israel has every right to defend itself from those rocket attacks from Hamas, nonetheless the Israeli military operation overstepped the mark in Gaza,' Mr Clegg said.

'This outrageous spectacle of these three UN schools being hit by Israeli military action. That's why I believe that the export licences should now be suspended. ' He added: 'The actions of the Israeli military, overstepping the mark in Gaza, breach the conditions of those export licences and that's why we want to see them suspended pending a wider review of whether they should be revoked more permanently in the long run.' The Government has already launched a review of export licences, but no decisions have been taken on suspension.

But one infuriated senior Tory said: ‘Warsi is an egomaniac; not team player. Good riddance. The feeling in the parliamentary party is that this probably has as much to do with her own lack of promotion [as with Gaza].’ Her resignation was met with fury from the Prime Minister’s inner circle, with Mr Osborne branding it ‘disappointing and unnecessary’. Philip Hammond, the new Foreign Secretary, questioned why she had decided to go just as Israel was withdrawing from Gaza and a ceasefire appeared to be holding. There were even rumours last night that Lady Warsi was planning to publish tell-all diaries about her time in Cabinet. Senior ministers have raised concerns directly with the Prime Minister that she spent all her time in meetings writing notes and not taking part in discussions. Last night Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg rode to her support – and called for all arms export licences to Israel to be suspended. ‘It’s obvious to me that however much Israel has every right to defend itself from rocket attacks from [Palestinian terror group] Hamas, nonetheless the Israeli military operation overstepped the mark in Gaza,’ he said. Lady Warsi informed the Prime Minister – who is on holiday in Portugal – of her decision yesterday morning. Before he managed to speak to her, she had already made her resignation public on Twitter – a break with the tradition that the minister’s letter to the Premier and his response are published at the same time. In her lengthy diatribe – in which she misspelled the word Islamophobia – she said she could not support a position which ran counter to Britain’s national interest and risked radicalising a generation of young Muslims. The move prompted renewed calls from some senior Conservatives last night for the Government to take a tougher line with Israel over its incursion into Gaza in the face of rising Palestinian casualties. Born in West Yorkshire, Lady Warsi became the first Muslim to sit in Cabinet when she was made Conservative Party co-chairman following the 2010 election. She was later moved to the post of ‘senior minister of state’ at the Foreign Office and minister for faith and communities in Mr Cameron’s 2012 reshuffle – a move widely regarded as a demotion. The peer was still allowed to attend Cabinet meetings.

TORY MPS LINE UP TO BACK BARONESS WARSI QUITTING

'The government needs to note and learn from the resignation of Sayeeda Warsi she was right to leave over a matter of such great importance.'

Nicholas Soames



'Congratulations Sayeeda on your principled stand; I hope it changes policy .'

Sarah Wollaston

'I think it’s a brave and principled decision by Sayeeda to resign over this issue and if you have responsibility for the UN, for the ICC and human rights within Government and international justice then you can understand why she would take a very strong view over what is happening in Gaza.'

Crispin Blunt



'There is a concern that Israel’s attempts to protect itself and destroy terrorist tunnels is at such dreadful expense of human life. That’s there, not only on the Conservative benches but throughout Parliament. '

Alistair Burt



Despite the snub, however, she apparently harboured hopes of a promotion back to full Cabinet in last month’s reshuffle.



But in fact, she has been out of favour for some time with the Conservative establishment. Nevertheless, there are concerns among some Tories that – with the election just nine months away – the Government’s Gaza stance could cost them the support of Muslim voters in key constituencies.



In her letter, Lady Warsi wrote: ‘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.’

She added: ‘Early evidence from the Home Office and others shows the fall-out of the current conflict…and our response to it becoming a basis for radicalisation could have consequences for us for years to come.’



In a clear swipe at the reshuffle, she also criticised the decision to remove Mr Clarke and Mr Grieve – ministers she said would have backed her line on Gaza – from the Cabinet. In his reply, Mr Cameron expressed ‘regret’ that they had been unable to speak before she decided to go.



‘Of course, we believe that Israel has the right to defend itself,’ he wrote. ‘But we have consistently made clear our grave concerns about the heavy toll of civilian casualties and have called on Israel to exercise restraint, and to find ways to bring this fighting to an end.’



Baroness Warsi last night she attended a ceremony in Westminster Abbey to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One

She was one of four people chosen to extinguish symbolic candles during the service as part of the Lights Out commemoration

The Duchess of Cornwall and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg were among those looking on as Baroness Warsi snuffed out the candle SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT CALLS FOR AN ARMS EMBARGO WITH ISRAEL Alex Salmond's Scottish government is backing an an arms embargo on Israel. Ministers in Westminster are reviewing arms export licences to Israel on a case by case basis. But the Holyrood administration has agreed to call for an arms embargo. Scotland's external affairs minister Humza Yousaf said: 'With mounting evidence of possible violations of international law the UK must ensure that it is not complicit in the killing of innocent civillians through its supply of arms.

'There must be an immediate embargo an arms sales to Israel and an investigation into whether or not UK arms supplies might have been used in violations of international law.' A series of senior Conservatives did express support for Lady Warsi. Former justice minister Crispin Blunt said she had been ‘brave and principled’. Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Commons health select committee, praised her ‘principled stand’. London Mayor Boris Johnson said he hoped she would return to the Government ‘as soon as possible’.

He also condemned the Israeli action as ‘disproportionate’ – a word Mr Cameron and Mr Hammond have consistently avoided.

‘I can’t for the life of me see how this can be a sensible strategy,’ he said during a LBC radio phone-in. The resignation came just days after Downing Street reacted furiously to a call by Ed Miliband for the Government to take a firmer line on Israel, with No 10 accusing Labour of trying to ‘play politics’ with the issue. Mr Miliband said that Lady Warsi had acted with ‘principle and integrity’ and urged Mr Cameron to re-think his position.



Palestinian children make their way though the rubble of destroyed buildings as they return home in the northern Gaza Strip

Israel today pulled its ground forces out of the Gaza Strip and began a 72-hour truce with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step towards negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war

This morning International Development Secretary Justine Greening insisted 'Israel has the right to defend itself'.

She told Sky News: 'Israel obviously has an army and it will want to equip that army but I think what we have focused our attention on over recent days has been, first of all to call and press for an immediate unconditional ceasefire.

'We now have a ceasefire in place, we want to make sure that that sticks, and secondly to make sure that we have been able to get our humanitarian aid into people in Gaza affected by his crisis.

'Israel has the right to defend itself at the end of the day but we have been absolutely clear all the way through this crisis that Israel had to act in a proportionate way and we utterly are appalled by the bombing of UN institutions like schools, which are meant to be impartial where people are sheltering to stay safe.'

Britain is reviewing its arms exports to Israel following the upsurge of violence in Gaza.

Over the past four years, arms export licences worth £42million have been granted to 130 UK defence manufacturers to sell military equipment to Israel.

The equipment has included ammunition, drones and armoured vehicles, as well as weapon control and targeting systems, bullet-proof garments and naval gun parts.

■ Hopes for an end to the slaughter in Gaza increased yesterday as the Israelis pulled all their troops out of the Palestinian territory. A 72-hour ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began in the morning after four weeks of bloodshed which has claimed more than 1,900 lives.



FEMALE, ASIAN, NORTHERN: THE ANTITHESIS OF CAMERON'S OLD ETONIANS Arriving at Number 10 when the coalition was formed Sayeeda Warsi's sudden resignation from government will be a major blow to David Cameron. As she recalled in her letter to the Prime Minister, she was on the stage at the Tory party conference in Blackpool in 2005 to introduce Mr Cameron as he launched his leadership bid. At a time when he was trying to shed the party's 'nasty' image as the preserve of white, middle-aged men, she was often by his side on the campaign trail. And when the coalition was formed in 2010, she became the first woman Muslim Cabinet minister as Tory party co-chairman. Female, Asian, working class, educated at a comprehensive, and speaking with a broad Yorkshire accent, she was the antithesis of the clique of Old Etonians. A successful lawyer, she was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in 1971, and was the first Asian woman to be selected by the Tories to fight a parliamentary seat. She came within 4,615 votes of unseating Labour's Shahid Mailk as MP for her home town in 2005. In 2007 she entered the House of Lords instead as a Tory life peer, having worked as an adviser to both Mr Cameron and his predecessor, Michael Howard. Educated at Birkdale High School and Dewsbury College, she studied law at Leeds University - going on to work for the Crown Prosecution Service, the Home Office and her own practice in Yorkshire. The married mother-of-five was once dubbed 'the most influential Asian woman in British politics' by BBC radio and was praised in 2006 for the way she handled an Islamic extremist who insisted she should wear a veil on Newsnight. She entered Government after the 2010 general election, becoming Britain's first female Muslim Cabinet minister and hailing her appointment to the top table as a 'humbling' moment. And she ditched the pinstriped traditions of her predecessors as Tory Party chairman as she posed outside Downing Street in traditional Islamic garments after the coalition Cabinet's first meeting. Gamely removing her coat at the request of photographers and hanging it on a railing outside 10 Downing Street, she braved the chill morning air to reveal a pink and purple shalwar kameez. She then told reporters: 'To be born as the daughter of an immigrant mill worker in a mill town in Yorkshire, to have the privilege of serving in Cabinet at such an important time in Britain's history, I think it is terribly humbling.' Earlier this year she mocked Mr Cameron's over-reliance on Old Etonians on television. She appeared with a mocked up newspaper front page she apparently designed herself bearing the headline 'Number 10 Takes Eton Mess off the Table'. It featured a picture of David Cameron and the faces of other old Etonians in Number Ten - chief of staff Ed Llewellyn, bumbling Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin and policy chief Jo Johnson - in a pudding bowl. Baroness Warsi mocked David Cameron's reliance on Old Etonians in March with a mock front page with the headline: Number 10 takes Eton Mess off the menu' But her time in Government has not been entirely without incident. In 2012, Mr Cameron ordered an inquiry into whether she breached the ministerial code when she was accompanied by a business partner on an official visit to Pakistan. Lady Warsi wrote a letter of apology to Mr Cameron, saying she was 'sincerely sorry' for the embarrassment to the Government. But the inquiry concluded that she was guilty of only a 'minor' breach of the ministerial code. She was also cleared of abusing expenses by claiming for overnight stays at a property she was using for free although she was found to have breached rules by failing to declare that she was renting out her own London home. A few weeks later Baroness Warsi was moved in Mr Cameron's first reshuffle, losing her job as Tory Party co-chairman, which she shared with Michael Fallon. Rising star Grant Shapps was appointed party chairman in her place but Baroness Warsi stayed in the Government as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Faith Groups after apparently insisting Mr Cameron give her a more substantial role. Advertisement

WARSI'S FULL LETTER: ' I must be able to live with myself for the decisions I took or the decisions I supported'

Dear Prime Minister

For some weeks, in meetings and discussions, I have been open and honest about my views on the conflict in Gaza and our response to it.

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.

Particularly as the Minister with responsibility for the United Nations, The International Criminal Court and Human Rights I believe our approach in relation to the current conflict is neither consistent with our values, specifically our commitment to the rule of law and our long history of support for International Justice.



In many ways the absence of the experience and expertise of colleagues like Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve has over the last few weeks become very apparent.

The decision has not been easy. It has been a privilege to serve for 3 years in your Shadow Cabinet and over 4 years in your Cabinet.



Introducing you in Blackpool in 2005 as you made your bid for leadership I had the pleasure of being there at the start of the journey and it would have been rewarding to have been there till the end.

The last decade has given me the opportunity to work with some of the best in the Conservative Party and indeed in government.



William Hague was probably one of the finest Foreign Secretaries this country has seen and has been inspirational.



He dismantled foreign policy making by sofa government and restored decision making and dignity to the Foreign Office.



There is however great unease across the Foreign Office amongst both Ministers and senior officials, in the way recent decisions are being made.

Eric Pickles has supported me tirelessly in our work on combating hate crime, challenging anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia and the pioneering work of celebrating faith in the public sphere.



This new found confidence in Government has allowed me to take the very public international lead on religious freedom, specifically on the ever growing crisis of the persecution of Christians.

However, early evidence from the Home Office and others 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.

From both Eric and William I learnt the art of reconciling passion and idealism with pragmatism and realism, but I always said that long after life in politics I must be able to live with myself for the decisions I took or the decisions I supported.



By staying in Government at this time I do not feel I can be sure of that.

It is therefore with regret that I am writing to resign.

You will continue to have my personal support as leader of the Conservative Party as you continue to ensure that our Party evolves to meet the challenges we face in Britain today and ensure that the Party is relevant and responsive to all communities that make up today's Britain.

Your sincerely

Sayeeda

CAMERON'S RESPONSE: 'I was sorry to receive this... We have been through a great deal together'

Dear Sayeeda,

Thank you for your letter today, in which you set out your reasons for resigning from the Government. I was sorry to receive this.

I realise that this must not have been an easy decision for you to make and very much regret that we were not able to speak about your decision beforehand.

I understand your strength of feeling on the current crisis in the Middle East – the situation in Gaza is intolerable.



Our policy has always been consistently clear: we support a negotiated two state solution as the only way to resolve this conflict once and for all and to allow Israelis and Palestinians to live safely in peace.

Of course, we believe that Israel has the right to defend itself. But we have consistently made clear our grave concerns about the heavy toll of civilian casualties and have called on Israel to exercise restraint, and to find ways to bring this fighting to an end.

As part of that, we have consistently called for an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire.

More widely, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know how grateful I am for the contribution you have made to the Conservative Front Bench, both in Opposition and in Government, over seven years’ continuous service.

As the Minister for Faith and Communities, working with Eric Pickles in the Department for Communities and Local Government, you played an important role in the Government’s integration agenda – building more united communities, tackling hate crime, harnessing the power of faith groups and championing Britain’s common heritage.

At the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, your hard work in tackling persecution around the world, between faiths and within faiths, has had a lasting impact, as has your work to put the UK at the heart of the global Islamic Finance system.

You can also take pride in how you have built relationships with the countries and leaders of Central Asia, and particularly the role you have played supporting democracy and women’s rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Perhaps most importantly, I would like you to know how much I have personally appreciated your support and friendship over the years, and your commitment to our Party and the Government.



You were one of the early supporters of my leadership campaign in 2005, something for which I remain grateful.

We have been through a great deal together since then and I will never forget how proud we both were when, in May 2010, you joined the Cabinet as Chairman of the Conservative Party.

You can take pride in your achievements in Government and, especially, for being the first Muslim woman in any British Cabinet.



I appreciate your assurance of support in the months and years to come and I hope that you will always feel able to raise any issue with me at any time.

This comes with my thanks, and best wishes for the future.

Yours ever,