Sayeeda Warsi

As the first Muslim to serve in a British cabinet, there are few people better placed that Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi to reflect on the position of Muslims in the UK, and the rising tide of Islamaphobia they face.

Discussing her book Muslims Don’t Matter, Baroness Warsi looks at the far-right riots that broke out in the UK in 2024, how more hatred has been directed at Muslims in public life during the war on Gaza, and how a network of media, commentators and more feed Islamaphobia. Using her political and personal experience, she urges us to change course and unite to dismantle this toxic bigotry.

Warsi is a lawyer and a businesswoman, and is one of five girls born to immigrant parents of Pakistani origin in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. She studied law and worked for the Crown Prosecution Service before setting up her own legal practice.

She has also been a racial justice campaigner for many years and was instrumental in the launch of Operation Black Vote, a not-for-profit national organisation that works towards greater racial justice and equality throughout the UK.

Rachel Shabi is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster who has reported extensively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She is the author of Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism, picking apart the obscured and entangled histories of racism and antisemitism.