The Baroness Warsi
Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action
Sayeeda Warsi is Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action and is a member of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet. She is a former Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party and is Shadow Minister for the City of Sheffield.
Sayeeda has been politically active from her early college days and was subsequently instrumental in the launch of Operation Black Vote in West Yorkshire in 1996 and stood as a candidate in the 2005 general election.
In December 2007 Sayeeda participated in the successful mission to the Sudan to secure the release of the British teacher, Gillian Gibbons.
Education and career
Sayeeda was born in Dewsbury in 1971. She was educated at Birkdale High School and Dewsbury College, and then at the University of Leeds where she read law (LLB). She attended the York College of Law to complete the Legal Practice Course and then trained with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office Immigration Department.
After qualifying as a Solicitor, Sayeeda worked for John Whitfield, the last Conservative Member of Parliament for Dewsbury, at Whitfield Hallam Goodall Solicitors; Sayeeda then went on to set up her own specialist practice George Warsi Solicitors in Dewsbury.
Campaigns and areas of interest
Sayeeda has always had a keen interest in racial justice issues. For many years she was an executive member of the Kirklees Racial Equality Council. She is also a member of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust's Racial Justice Committee and regularly represents them at national conferences.
She has been a speaker on issues as varied as forced marriages, prison conditions and business network links at a national level. She regularly shares a platform with leading parliamentarians from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Sayeeda has worked overseas on a research project on forced marriages for the Ministry of Law in Pakistan and for the women's empowerment charity - the Savayra Foundation.
Media experience
Sayeeda regularly appears in the broadcast media, including BBC's Question Time and Radio Four's Woman's Hour. Sayeeda has also written articles for the national and regional press.