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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Tories 'welcome all backgrounds' | |
| (about 24 hours later) | |
| The Conservatives have said they welcome election candidates from all backgrounds, after comments by a Muslim woman on the party's selection process. | |
| Sayeeda Warsi said party officials in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, had persuaded not to stand because voters were "not ready for two ethnic candidates". | |
| But a Tory spokesman said there were no ethnic "no-go" areas for the party. | |
| Ms Warsi stood unsuccessfully for the Tories in 2005 and, after deciding against another bid, was made a peer. | |
| Mr Cameron has made recruiting more female and ethnic minority candidates to winnable seats central to his efforts to modernise the Conservative Party. | Mr Cameron has made recruiting more female and ethnic minority candidates to winnable seats central to his efforts to modernise the Conservative Party. |
| But in an interview with The Yorkshire Post, Ms Warsi describes how an interview with local Conservative officials in Dewsbury made her reconsider her plans to stand again. | |
| 'Long, hard look' | 'Long, hard look' |
| She said: "The chairman said you're the best candidate we've ever had, you would have made a fantastic MP for this town but at the moment, maybe because of the way that this community is, it still needs a bit of time on both sides. | She said: "The chairman said you're the best candidate we've ever had, you would have made a fantastic MP for this town but at the moment, maybe because of the way that this community is, it still needs a bit of time on both sides. |
| "Maybe the white community is not ready for two ethnic candidates again and also the Muslim community, which really needs to take a long, hard look at itself." | "Maybe the white community is not ready for two ethnic candidates again and also the Muslim community, which really needs to take a long, hard look at itself." |
| She said: "I'm still going to be a woman at the next election. I wasn't going to change. I was still going to be brown at the next election." | She said: "I'm still going to be a woman at the next election. I wasn't going to change. I was still going to be brown at the next election." |
| I was too black for half of the community and too white for the other half Baroness Warsi | I was too black for half of the community and too white for the other half Baroness Warsi |
| But a Conservative Party spokesman said: "We have nine black and minority ethnic candidates selected in winnable seats. "Bradford West and Gillingham and Rainham have Muslim candidates. | |
| "There are no 'no-go' areas for our party and those seeking to represent it - whatever their religious or ethnic background." | |
| 'Proud person' | |
| Tory leader David Cameron promoted Ms Warsi to the role of shadow community cohesion minister, making her the first Muslim woman to sit on the front bench of a political party in the UK. | |
| She is expected to be given a peerage soon, allowing her to sit on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords. | |
| Ms Warsi dismissed allegations that she was given her current frontbench role in a display of "tokenism" by Tory leader David Cameron, adding: "I'm quite a proud person. | |
| "If someone ever gave me a job because I felt it made them look good, as some commentators have tried to put to David, I'd never do that." | "If someone ever gave me a job because I felt it made them look good, as some commentators have tried to put to David, I'd never do that." |
| She described the prejudice she faced from some Tory voters as she campaigned in Dewsbury in 2005. | |
| 'Blunt' | 'Blunt' |
| "We had two quite extreme things working here. We had the BNP with the largest support in the country. | "We had two quite extreme things working here. We had the BNP with the largest support in the country. |
| "I had people who said they had voted Tory in the past slam the door in my face and told me to, 'F-off Paki, I ain't voting for you'. That was how blunt it was. | "I had people who said they had voted Tory in the past slam the door in my face and told me to, 'F-off Paki, I ain't voting for you'. That was how blunt it was. |
| "On the other hand, you had the community which I thought I knew well, in Savile Town and Ravensthorpe, the Muslim community, quite an orthodox community, who just had a real issue with a woman standing. | "On the other hand, you had the community which I thought I knew well, in Savile Town and Ravensthorpe, the Muslim community, quite an orthodox community, who just had a real issue with a woman standing. |
| "Suddenly people who you thought would be there to support you, it stuck in their throat. | "Suddenly people who you thought would be there to support you, it stuck in their throat. |
| "I always say that in the 2005 election, I was too black for half of the community and too white for the other half." | "I always say that in the 2005 election, I was too black for half of the community and too white for the other half." |