Sayeeda Warsi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sayeeda Warsi is a British-born Muslim of Pakistani origin and is a lawyer and Conservative politician.
Sayeeda was born in Dewsbury in 1971. She was educated at Birkdale High School and Dewsbury College, and then the University of Leeds where she read Law (LLB). She attended the York College of Law to complete her Legal Practice Course and trained both with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office Immigration Department.
After qualifying as a Solicitor, she worked for John Whitfield, the last Conservative Member of Parliament for Dewsbury at Whitfield Hallam Goodall Solicitors and then went on to set up her own specialist practice George Warsi Solicitors 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.
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 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.
On 30th November 2006, the New Statesman 'revealed' that Warsi received support for her general election campaign from Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, a Labour peer. According to the New Statesman's report, Warsi "welcomed Lord Ahmed's support".
