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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Presented by John Harris and produced by Lucy Greenwell

John Harris's national conversations podcast: Sayeeda Warsi

Last year Sayeeda Warsi was pelted with eggs by Islamists and told that because she supported war in Afghanistan she wasn't a proper Muslim.

In the sixth of John Harris's national conversations series of interviews, Warsi feistily argues that it's those who threaten violence in the name of Islam who aren't true to their faith. She unpicks the recent controversy sparked by her claim that Islamophobia has "passed the dinner party test".

And she shines light on highly-charged debates at the heart of government, including engagement with supposed extremists and relations with Hamas.

If she's causing a stir, in Warsi's view, she's doing her job. In an interview both personal and political, Warsi discusses suffering at the hands of racists in Yorkshire; her radical period at Leeds University; the failure of her arranged marriage; how austerity is playing out in her native Dewsbury; and her impassioned drive to work for resounding Tory success at the next general election.

* Watch a video interview with Baroness Warsi

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