At the top, but not in the inner circle.
As the first Muslim woman to sit in the cabinet she was a crucial symbol of David Cameron's efforts to modernise the Tories.
But now she has left the government - and in a way designed to inflict damage.
The prime minister was only told shortly about her decision to quit before she announced it on her Twitter feed.
She'd also done an interview, explaining her decision, which was published on the Huffington Post website within the hour.
David Cameron's response to her resignation contained a jibe - he had "much regret" she hadn't talked to him about her concerns before she quit.
But there was also a warm tribute.
"I would like you to know how much I have personally appreciated your support and friendship over the years' he wrote.
There is no evidence though that Mr Cameron is changing his mind or re-assessing the government's stance on Israel's conduct during this war.
The prime minister has faced criticism from some in his own party for not condemning Israel for what they believe is its disproportionate use of force against Hamas and civilians in Gaza.
He described an attack on Monday as a "slaughter" and he said the situation was "intolerable".
Other senior ministers have called it a "catastrophe".
But neither Mr Cameron nor any Conservative minister has said that Israel has gone beyond what is proportionate.
The response on Tuesday afternoon from the new foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, was telling.
What Lady Warsi has labelled a "morally indefensible" position he has dismissed as a call for "megaphone diplomacy". He emphasised that he felt he had to be "balanced".
That reveals how deep the divide was between two people who were supposed to be working together.

The money will be used to create 35 new posts across Northern Ireland in an effort to speed diagnosis and cut waiting lists.
Since 2010, the number of referrals for autism assessments has nearly doubled in five years from 1,500 to 2,800.
More than 2,800 children are currently waiting to be seen. Health Minister Simon Hamilton said it was "unacceptable".
He told Radio Ulster's Sunday News that the extra cash should help match pace with demand.
"The impact of the additional money should be felt very quickly," Mr Hamilton said.
"We are going to create about seven posts in each of the five health trusts across Northern Ireland to supplement the hardworking teams that are already there doing a great job and to give them much needed resources to be able to carry out the diagnoses."
Mr Hamilton said waiting lists resulted from "huge pressure" on the system.

About 250,000 people have used the free service so far, said its creator, Joshua Browder.
The Do Not Pay bot currently works in the UK and New York in the US. It asks a series of questions to determine the validity of a penalty notice.
It can also be used to work out compensation for delayed flights.
Mr Browder told the BBC he hoped it proved bots could be useful.
"Bots are a huge opportunity for public service," he said.
"I'm very surprised it has been so successful, but I am not surprised that so many people have pushed back against their parking tickets."
Of the 160,000 successful challenges, 9,000 were from New York, where the bot launched in March 2016, reports Venture Beat.
Mr Browder was inspired to build the bot, which he describes as "the world's first robot lawyer", after receiving "countless" parking tickets himself.
It took him three months to program.
The Stanford University student is currently building a new bot aimed at helping Syrian refugees by producing English documents based on Arabic text.
However, Abhi Chirimar, the chief executive of online mental health community Instawell, said that in his experience there was no chatbot "silver bullet" for companies offering digital services across more than one platform.
"Service developers need to be mindful of the pros and cons when designing chatbots," he said.
"Chatbots need tactical conversation design to ensure that the average person feels comfortable throughout the process.
"We realised early on that there isn't an easy 'silver-bullet' for our chatbot.
"Now, a Facebook user and a Slack user are served up different chatbots for the same goal - get the right kind of help."
Sayeeda Warsi has been a permanent feature at the top of the Conservative Party since David Cameron became leader almost a decade ago.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Autism services in Northern Ireland are to get an extra £2m a year.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A chatbot programmed by a British teenager has successfully challenged 160,000 parking tickets since its launch last year.