Leader: Freedom fight

To turn an army on one’s own people is bad enough. But to call in foreign mercenaries, as Colonel Gaddafi did this week in Libya, is a rare form of savagery, one which offers a chilling glimpse into the real nature of his dictatorship. He should be stopped. We have heard this week the familiar calls for Britain to sit back and watch what is an internal matter for the countries involved. But like it or not, Britain is involved in Libya. Quite apart from the various oil contracts, the last government granted licences to export £8 million of arms to Libya. The SAS have even been training Libyan forces, as part of the deal which Tony Blair personally agreed with Gaddafi in a tent outside Tripoli eight years ago.

David Cameron cannot be held responsible for the situation he inherited. But as events are rapidly demonstrating, it is time for a new British foreign policy — and a far better one than he has pursued so far.