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Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has many roles, but is best known for being the first Muslim female to serve in the British Cabinet.
In 2007, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and was elevated to the House of Lords aged 36, making her the youngest peer in Parliament. In 2010, she was appointed by then-Prime Minister David Cameron as Minister Without Portfolio. The iconic image of her on the steps of No 10 Downing Street wearing a shalwar kameez were beamed around the world.
Sayeeda is now an influential public speaker, addressing large audiences as well as at more intimate gatherings. She has talked at City dinners, women’s networking events and international finance conferences. She is a popular speaker, bringing genuine passion and warmth to every event with humorous and often surprising anecdotes.
Contact Great British Speakers today to book Muslim Government Official Baroness Sayeeda Warsi for your next event.
Before working in politics, Sayeeda Warsi studied law, before going on to work for the Crown Prosecution Serve and then setting up her own practice.
But the call of politics was quickly coming, and she was appointed as Chairman of the Conservative Party , the first Asian to chair a major British political party, in 2010. Two years later, she was made Senior Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Minister for Faith and Communities.
She was very passionate about faith and religion whilst in government and chaired several groups on the topic. She chaired the Global Islamic Finance and Investment Group for the UK government and was responsible for the introduction of the first Sukuk bond outside of the Islamic world. She also spearheaded the party’s national and international Social Action agenda, setting up Project Maja which has brought politicians together in the poorest parts of Bosnia Herzegovina and Bangladesh. Her passion was clear to see in 2012 when she lead the UK’s largest ever ministerial delegation to the Vatican, gaining global coverage for her inspiring speech.
She resigned from the government in 2014 after she disagreed with their policy on the Israel-Gaza conflict, but still contributes her opinions to difficult issues such as faith and religion in politics.
Since her resignation from official politics, she has become a popular face on current affairs and comedy shows including Question Time (2006-2013), Newsnight, Have I Got News For You (2018-2021), Citizen Khan (2016), The Last Leg (2017-2021), Winter Walks (2021), Scotland: Escape to the Wilderness (2021), Taskmaster (2022), Steph’s Packed Lunch (2020-) and Stand Up And Deliver (2021).
In 2017, she published The Enemy Within, a provocative and honest account of the relationship between Britain and Islam; the book made its way onto Amazon’s top 100 bestsellers in the conservatism genre.
Sayeeda is the Chair of her self-titled Baroness Warsi Foundation where she focusses on social mobility, gender equality and freedom of religious belief. She is also a Trustee of the Savayra Foundation, a UK charity which works in Pakistan to empower widows, divorcees and orphan girls through education and poverty relief programmes.
In 2015, Sayeeda was nominated for the Muslim Woman of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards, and she is frequently voted one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world.
SPEAKER
Her keynote and after-dinner speeches include anecdotes from her life such as helping secure the release of a UK teacher accused of blasphemy, taking on esteemed MP’s on the topic of race, campaigning against forced marriage, speaking on the topics of gay rights, immigration, racism and islamophobia, and much more.
– Muslim Britain
– Brexit and International Politics
– UK Government
– Women in Business
– Terrorism and National Security
– Diversity and Inclusion
– Human Rights
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi talks about issues that many people seek to avoid, voicing controversial opinions and getting everyone involved in topics previously considered taboo.
Northern, working-class and Muslim, Sayeeda Warsi represents modern multicultural Britain in all its complexity, and she’s a Conservative. She is on her way to inventing a new type of politics for the looming age of authenticity.
The Daily Telegraph
The best speakers position themselves just outside, not inside, the political mainstream. Therein lies the secret of Baroness Warsi’s success…the closest they have a to a modern-day Margaret Thatcher.
Total Politics