Baroness Warsi switches from Leave to Remain

Baroness Warsi told the Times the "hate and xenophobia" of the Leave campaign was "a step too far".

She said she realised she could no longer support Leave when she saw UKIP's "breaking point" anti-EU poster.

Vote Leave said it was not aware Lady Warsi had joined its campaign, while Nigel Farage defended the poster, saying it was "the truth".

'Step too far'

A number of politicians from both sides of the EU debate accused UKIP leader Mr Farage, who is not part of the official Leave campaign, of trying to scare voters ahead of 23 June's referendum after he unveiled a poster showing a long queue of migrants.

Leading Leave campaigner Michael Gove said he "shuddered" when he saw the photo, which was taken in Slovenia, with George Osborne saying it had "echoes" of 1930s' literature.

Lady Warsi, who resigned from the government in 2014 over its position on Gaza, told the Times: "That 'breaking point' poster really was - for me - the breaking point to say, 'I can't go on supporting this'.

"Are we prepared to tell lies, to spread hate and xenophobia just to win a campaign? For me that's a step too far."

Lady Warsi said support for Brexit from the far right and the tone of the Leave campaign's comments had caused her to rethink the nature of the UK outside of Europe.

She said: "I look at that group of people and I think they're not the kind of people I'd get on a night bus with. Why would I want them to run my country?

"I don't want the Leave camp to be running this country and I don't want the messages coming out of that camp to form the basis of the kind of Britain that I want to live in and to bring my kids up in."

Speaking about her decision to switch sides, she added: "It's not an easy decision - this has been a difficult personal journey.

"When I look at the people who are now saying the things they are saying and the people who are supporting that approach, the BNP, Donald Trump, Marine le Pen, Austria's Freedom Party - everyday it feels like the far right is coming out to stand by Leave."

However, Leave campaigners have said they never knew Lady Warsi was a part of their campaign.

Vote Leave tweeted: "Genuinely puzzled by Sayeeda 'defection'. We weren't aware she was ever part of the #VoteLeave campaign..."

Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative MP who is campaigning to Leave, echoed that view, tweeting: "Been part of the leave campaign from start. I had no idea that @SayeedaWarsi was part of the leave campaign. News to all of us me thinks."

However, a tweet from Lady Warsi on 7 June shows her support for Leave: "For those of us committed to @vote_leave this unholy alliance between small minded little islanders & optimistic hello worlders is a strain!"

Mr Farage defended the breaking point poster in a series of interviews on Sunday.

He said the scene was "a direct result" of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open her country's doors to Syrian refugees, which he described as "one of the biggest political failures of modern times".

"The point of that poster was to say that Europe isn't working," he told Pienaar's Politics on BBC Radio 5 live, adding: "Something that's true can't be a scare."

(BBC)