The shifting sands of public opinion on Libya

All of the buccaneering rhetoric has been sucked from the Libyan conflict this week, replaced with words of concession, compromise and caution. A few days ago, it was the news that — contrary to what they might previously have said — the government is prepared to let Gaddafi remain in the country after all. Today, William Hague deploys the same line in an interview with the Times (£), in which he also warns that there are “a lot of problems and even convulsions” to come in northern Africa.

As it happens, the depressed mood of our foreign-policymakers reflects the tide of public opinion. Here, for CoffeeHousers’ benefit, are a couple of graphs that we’ve made from YouGov’s polling questions on Libya. They chart a distinct and growing pessimism about our involvement in the country:

Of course, it’s no surprise that the public should turn against a protracted conflict that doesn’t seem to be achieving the goals that the West initially had in mind.