Lady Warsi’s resignation reveals the emptiness of Cameron’s diversity drive

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/05/lady-warsi-resignation-cameron-gaza

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Lady Warsi’s resignation over Gaza is undoubtedly one of principle. Like many of her principles, it is different from the prime minister’s – eventually that divide evidently became too much.

That’s not to say this is all there is to it, though. The topic may be high-minded but the timing is undoubtedly at a point of most pain for David Cameron and the government. As Israel withdraws its troops and talks open in Egypt, there was a real prospect of the issue cooling, in Westminster at least.

Now it will continue to flare for at least a few more days. Labour is already making hay with the news, and some Conservative MPs are also deeply uncomfortable with the line on Gaza.

Domestically, today was meant to be about the chancellor’s appeal to the north’s great cities – a different form of Tory diversity. Instead, Downing Street finds itself fending off questions and criticisms about its relationship with Muslim voters.

If Warsi has felt for some time that she is used as a token appointment, the blame for that can only lie at the prime minister’s door. The concern could have been diluted by giving her a role totally divorced from her ethnicity and religion, but for some reason she was kept working on the policies where her difference from her leader was greatest.

Nor is there much reassurance to be gained from her resignation letter. Lamenting the departure of William Hague, Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve is an open criticism of the reshuffle, and her disagreement over Middle Eastern policy is described as general, not just specific to this conflict. As others have noted, the diary she has kept for some time now looks certain to be published at some point – and it is unlikely to make comfortable reading for the government.

The whole sorry saga – her misjudged appointment, her regular disagreements with the prime minister, her abortive sacking, her painful resignation and her apparent preparation to be a thorn in the side – is ultimately evidence of a failed attempt to deal with the Conservative party’s difficulty in appealing to ethnic minority voters.

Many feared that a generalised, tokenistic fix based on personalities rather than ideas would backfire – now it has. Not only has the electoral problem not gone away, as Policy Exchange recently showed all too vividly, but now we also have an ex-minister out to cause trouble, too.