Warsi illustrates the Tory dilemma

Amid all the polls, hoopla and election prognostications as the Tories gather in Blackpool, don't miss this interview in today's Sindy with Sayeeda Warsi, the shadow minister for social cohesion. She speaks about the incapacity of modern Government to cope with modern population mobility, a subject I also address in today's Sunday Telegraph. Much more contentiously she detects legitimacy in the grievances of some who vote for far Right parties. Were this warning uttered by a white male, it would cause the Tory walls to come tumbling down; as a free marketeer who has always defended immigration and the viability of multi-ethnic Britain, I must confess that her position makes me feel queasy and it certainly won't be welcomed by the Tory modernisers. The fact remains that Ms Warsi is a Briton of Pakistani descent; she is also a woman who has often bravely stood up to male Islamists even though much of what she says on the subject is tosh. That such a person should be a senior figure in the Tory Party saying these particular things at this particular moment tells you a lot about the dilemmas faced by those who must craft a modern conservatism fit for purpose in the early 21st Century.