She was Britain’s first Muslim cabinet minister – and has faced questions for years about why she was in the Conservative party. Yesterday, she resigned the whip. She explains why

Until yesterday, Sayeeda Warsi was one of the highest-profile Muslims in the Conservative party. Some hailed her as a symbol of Tory diversity; others criticised her for sticking with a party that appeared to harbour Islamophobes. So when the 53-year-old peer announced on X that she was resigning the Conservative whip, it wasn’t just Westminster-watchers who were shocked.

Even Warsi seems a little dazed when we talk the morning after. She remains a Conservative at heart, she says, laughing when I ask if she is about to join Labour or the Liberal Democrats. Politically, she remains to the centre right. “I just don’t think my party is any more,” she says.