The senior Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi has resigned over David Cameron's stance on the Gaza conflict.
Announcing her resignation this morning, the former Chair of the Conservative Party said that she had written to the Prime Minister "and tendered [her] resignation".
"I can no longer support Government policy on Gaza," she wrote.
In her letter to Mr Cameron, Lady Warsi wrote that the Government's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had been "morally indefensible" and not "in Britain's national interest".
Her resignation is a significant setback for the Prime Minister, who has faced criticism for failing to condemn Israel’s military action in Gaza and its recent apparent air strike on a UN-run school in Rafah more forcefully.
The attack, which killed at least 10 Palestinians including children, provoked recriminations from around the world, including the UN and US.
Mr Cameron said it was "right" to condemn the air strike, but stopped short of endorsing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's description of the attack as a "moral outrage and a criminal act".
Lady Warsi, who was appointed by Mr Cameron as Minister for Faith and Communities in 2012, has regularly expressed her views on the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza on her Twitter feed, which is followed by more than 35,000 people.
On 24 July, more than two weeks into the current conflict that has seen more than 1,800 Palestinians killed, she wrote: "Can people stop trying to justify the killing of children. Whatever our politics there can never be justification, surely only regret #Gaza."
She wrote in her resignation letter: "My view has been that our policy in relation to the Middle East peace process generally but more recently our approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible, is not in Britain's national interest and will have a long-term detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically."
Labour was quick to respond to the news. Sadiq Khan, the shadow Justice Secretary, said it was "very courageous of my brave friend Sayeeda Warsi to resign over this Government's inexplicable silence and total weakness on the Gaza crisis".
Lady Warsi later tweeted an image of her resignation letter to David Cameron in fullEd Miliband has previously criticised the Prime Minister for failing to send a "clearer message to Israel" over the conflict.
On Saturday, the Labour leader said it was "wrong" of Mr Cameron not to publicly oppose Israel's incursion into Gaza, adding: "His silence on the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians caused by Israel's military action will be inexplicable to people across Britain and internationally."
Responding to Lady Warsi's resignation today, fellow Conservative peer Lord Deben described her as a "class act in the House of Lords upon whom [the] Government relies".
"[The] Government will miss her command of the subject and of the House. She is a significant loss on a real matter of principle," he said.
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/baroness-warsi-resigns-over-gaza-conflict-saying-she-can-no-longer-support-government-policy-9648529.html
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