“It’s not over yet.” That has become the government’s Libyan
mantra, delivered with a tone of sombre sobriety. However, James Kirkup reports that, in private, ministers
are cock-a-hoop, already dreaming of photo-ops and triumphant flyovers.
You wonder what Ed Llewellyn makes of the celebrations. Allegra Stratton has written a revealing profile of David Cameron’s chief-of-staff, ‘the most powerful man you rarely hear about’. Llewellyn is a foreign policy expert, a veteran of tours in the Balkans and the Far East. Stratton says he is:
‘Discreet personally and cautious politically, he will have insisted on megaphone caution from the PM and his cabinet ministers who duly took to the airwaves.’
I’m told that diplomats share his apprehension, fearing that Libya may yet combust as Iraq did. Hence the almost religious regularity with which William Hague talks about the need to establish stability.
Gaddafi’s continued liberty is the premier threat to stability at present, contends
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