Yesterday, Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt went to Chatham House to explain the
UK’s Libya policy. It was a mildly painful experience. A particular gem: “Where we will end up nobody quite knows.”
Well-spoken Lindsey Hilsum easily skewered UK policy, talking of the “indecent haste” of the ICC investigation and raising the ICC’s proposal to focus on a political deal. Sir Richard Dalton, an ex-mandarin, remarked that the “tone of optimism of the minister needs to be questioned further.”
Burt got a lot better during the Q&A, but the event did not make for a particularly compelling argument for what the UK is doing, which is a shame, not least because Alistair Burt can do better.
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