Cameron’s Libyan Recklessness

Is David Cameron a hawk or a dove? And how useful is that question anyway? I suspect the answers are “more of a hawk than not” and “not much”. The Prime Minister has not, shall we say, been at his best vis a vis Libya. Then again, foreign policy is not his longest-suit as anyone who recalls his reckless – and pointless – response to the mini-crisis in South Ossettia. His Dash to Tbilisi was straight from the pages of the John McCain Foreign Policy Manual, substituting feel-good sloganising and photo ops for measured calculations of both the national interest and anything Britain could practically or usefully do.

Something similar may be said of his call earlier this week for a No-Fly Zone across the skies above Libya. Since he has neither the opportunity nor the capability to enforce any such policy it might have been wise for the Prime Minister to consult with allies before, not after, he spoke.