Yorkshire common sense marks out Britain's first Asian Cabinet Minister

As well as her base in the House of Lords, the Dewsbury-born peer also has another office at Conservative headquarters, where she is the party's co-chairman, and a third Government base after becoming Minister without Portfolio when David Cameron became Prime Minister.

Just over six weeks ago, the no-nonsense Yorkshirewoman walked through the door of Number Ten to be told she was to be Britain's first Asian to hold a full Cabinet post.

But it was when she arrived back in Downing Street for the coalition Government's first Cabinet meeting that she really caused a stir, hanging her coat on the railings so photographers could capture her in front of the Number Ten door in her colourful traditional outfit.

She said: "When I went into the meeting I had my coat thrown over my arm and the photographers were saying let's have a photo, let's have a photo and I just wanted to get inside.

"It's your first Cabinet meeting and I walked in and some of the photographers were booing me because I hadn't stopped to have a photo."

To try to "do the right thing" she agreed to pose on the way out, by which time she had put her coat on. "So I was being obliging by taking my coat off and then we had that crazy moment because I didn't have anywhere to hang it so I suppose in good old Yorkshire common-sense style I thought oh, stick it on the railing," she says. "It was either that or the door knob on Downing Street."

It does not take long in the company of the 39-year-old to detect the straight-talking Yorkshire genes. Her Pakistani father came to Britain with little money but went on to make his fortune manufacturing bed mattresses in West Yorkshire, and his experience has helped foster her strong belief in everyone playing their part in society and taking responsibility.

This is the belief that lay at the heart of the Tories' Big Society push at the election – a brand for a series of policies such as allowing parents to set up their own schools and hold referendums into decisions made by their local council.

She insists criticism of the Big Society – which the party struggled to explain to voters – is "harsh", although her definition of it as "doing your bit", of trusting people to take control of their lives, is a far clearer explanation than party strategists ever managed to provide.

"I think it's always easy to post-analyse things," she says. "When you're running election campaigns of course you've got to go with things you think will win the campaign but you've also got to go with what your beliefs are as well. And there is a fundamental belief of the Big Society in the Conservative Party from the Prime Minister all the way down."

She adds: "If you say to somebody we want a society where everyone's doing their bit, you might not be able to explain it in huge amounts of policy details but I think most people would say, I think that's a society I'd be proud to be part of."

Cynics who question whether she has reached her present heights because she ticks boxes as female, ethnic minority and northern ignore the fact she has been close to Mr Cameron for some time. After losing her fight to become MP for Dewsbury in 2005 – following a feisty campaign against Labour's Shahid Malik – she was soon brought into the Lords to become Shadow Minister Community Cohesion.

As Minister without Portfolio she is still getting to grips with the job, but the roving brief has already meant working on community cohesion policies, social action and plans for English language tests for migrants. And as party co-chairman she will be responsible for getting the Tories in shape for the next election, whenever it may be.

In a recent interview she joked that "I hardly use the title the Baroness Warsi of Dewsbury because it makes me sound like a pub," but becoming the first Asian Cabinet Minister is a source of great pride and, she says, was a big moment globally. In the last government Sadiq Khan attended Cabinet but was not a full member.

With more ethnic minority MPs as well, she hopes this General Election marks a significant moment in the movement of minorities into the British mainstream.

"I hope that my not being a white, middle-aged man is not the reason for me to be in Cabinet, but I hope my being in Cabinet and being different it does send out a message to other people, other ethnic minorities in the country, to say you can do this," she says."

Never short of putting forward an opinion, Baroness Warsi, who remarried after 17 years of an arranged marriage, was put up as the Tory to challenge British National Party leader Nick Griffin on BBC's Question Time last autumn, and won plaudits. She says that was an important moment in helping challenge the far Right party, which went on to struggle in this year's elections and has forced Mr Griffin to announce he will quit.

"That Question Time appearance for Nick Griffin was the beginning of the end for him," she says. "He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand he had to appeal to hard-core extremist racist fascists – the stuff he says in private – and on the other hand he was trying to be the reasonable rational face to middle Britain and he failed to achieve either because he came across as shallow and a little bit creepy.

"I'm really glad they had him on, and I'm really glad I was there to play some part in bringing him down."

Baroness Warsi may be treading new territory as the first Asian Cabinet Minister but there's no chance of her being a shrinking violet – whichever of her offices she is in.