Tories refuse to give Warsi back whip after Twitter row

Kemi Badenoch has refused to restore the whip to Sayeeda Warsi, despite her having been cleared of wrongdoing over a tweet calling Rishi Sunak a “coconut”.

- DAVID MADDOX

The former party chair, now a peer, resigned the Tory whip in the Lords in September when it emerged she was being investigated over the tweet.

The Independent has now learnt that the disciplinary panel cleared Baroness Warsi of being “divisive” and “bringing the party into disrepute”. But despite this, the Tory chief whip in the Lords, Susan Williams, has written to Lady Warsi, who was the UK’s first Muslim cabinet member, saying that she is not welcome back.

Lady Warsi said she was being targeted for warning of rising levels of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party.

It comes amid the row over calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs, which has seen the Tories accused of political opportunism.