Baroness Sayeeda Warsi is a British Pakistani and the first Muslim woman to serve in the Cabinet of England. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire in 1971 to Pakistani parents, who emigrated from Bewal, Gujar Khan, Pakistan. Her father, Safdar Hussain, operates a bed manufacturing company, which earns £2 million a year.

Sayeeda Warsi Education:
She was educated at Birkdale High School, Dewsbury College, and the University of Leeds, where she studied Law (LLB). She attended the York College of Law to complete her Legal Practice Course and trained with both the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office Immigration Department.

Sayeeda Warsi Early Days:
After qualifying as a solicitor, she worked for John Whitfield – the last Conservative Member of Parliament for Dewsbury – at Whitfield Hallam Goodall Solicitors. She then set up her own specialist practice in Dewsbury. She has also worked overseas for the Ministry of Law in Pakistan and in Kashmir as Chairman of the Savayra Foundation, a women’s empowerment charity.

Sayeeda Warsi Marriage Life:
At the age of 19, Warsi was married to her cousin, Naeem, whom she met in Pakistan when she was 15. The marriage was arranged and they have one daughter, Aamna, 12. They divorced in December 2007 after 17 years of marriage. On 20 August 2009 Warsi married Iftikhar Azam in a simple Nikah ceremony at her parents’ detached property in Dewsbury followed by a wedding celebration attended only by close family. Shortly after, she was accused of “stealing” the husband of Mussarat Bi, 34, Azam’s first wife and mother of four, who claimed she had been divorced without knowledge and was “devastated by his desertion”. Sayeeda’s side have dismissed the allegations in a statement made by Azam.

Life Peer:
Baroness Warsi was the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Dewsbury at the 2005 General Election, becoming the first Muslim woman to be selected by the Conservatives. She lost that election by nearly 5000 votes. She has served as a special adviser to Michael Howard on Community Relations and was appointed by David Cameron as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party with specific responsibility for cities.

In its December edition, the New Statesman ‘revealed’ that the Baroness received support for her general election campaign from Lord Ahmed, a Labour peer. According to the New Statesman’s report, Warsi “welcomed Lord Ahmed’s support”.

Sayeeda Warsi as Shadow Minister:
On 2 July 2007 Baroness Warsi was appointed Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and a working peer. Her peerage was conferred as Baroness Warsi, of Dewsbury in the County of West Yorkshire on 11 October 2007 and gazetted on 26 October 2007.

On 1 December 2007, Baroness Warsi travelled with Lord Ahmed to meet for talks with Sudanese officials and Ministers, in response to the jailing of an English teacher, Gillian Gibbons. Gibbons had been found guilty of insulting Islam, after allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed. This had resulted in Gibbons’ prosecution and a 15 day jail sentence. Although Baroness Warsi’s and Lord Ahmed’s meeting with the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir did not lead directly to Mrs Gibbons being pardoned, it is acknowledged that, along with the enormous efforts made by Gillian Gibbons’s family, friends, and others, it may have indirectly contributed to her release.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi In government:
On 12 May 2010 David Cameron appointed Baroness Warsi Minister without Portfolio when she succeeded Eric Pickles as Chairman of the Conservative Party. Her appointment makes Warsi the first Muslim woman to serve in the Cabinet.