The Enemy Within
by Sayeeda Warsi, Allen Lane, £20
This apologia pro vita sua by Britain’s most distinguished Muslim politician is a well-judged mixture of anecdote, fine-grained political analysis and prophetic jeremiad against the myopic mutual gaze of the British establishment and our Muslim minorities. The focus is narrowly directed on Whitehall’s travails with Islam and Muslims. Those hoping for a discussion of non-security related dimensions of British Muslim life should look elsewhere.
At the book’s heart lies a detailed account of the evolution of counter-terrorism policy under David Cameron, whose steady shift towards a punitive and inquisitorial approach she justly laments. “Speak the truth,” says the Koran, “even against your own people”, and Warsi, although a diehard Conservative, writes in obedience to this. One is braced and challenged, and ultimately impressed, by her evident anguish in denouncing the hostility of her own political colleagues not only to her views on British Muslim communities but also to her religion itself.
