The week in politics: All eyes on the Middle East
On Monday David Cameron was ahead of the news, becoming the first western leader to visit Egypt since former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted by the crowds. By the end of the week, he was “incredibly sorry”. Where did it all go wrong?
The sunny pictures of a smiling prime minister striding through Tahrir Square were exactly what the spin doctor ordered. With impeccable timing, it seemed, Cameron was off to the Middle East, the region of the moment, thanks to the great democratic ‘awakening’. It didn’t matter that the prime minister’s trip was originally feted as a business-minded tour of states interested in buying arms from Britain. In the circumstances the headlines could be grabbed by David ‘pro-democracy’ Cameron. It seemed too good to be true.
Cameron becomes first world leader to visit Egypt
So it proved to be. Already the worst blood-letting of the recent unrest was underway in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi – as defiant as he is deranged – was doing his best to cling to power through whichever brutal means were at his disposal. Back in London the Foreign Office was slow off the mark in evacuating the British citizens – around 500, all told – stuck in Tripoli and elsewhere. Criticism mounted as the delays got worse and worse. On Thursday, Cameron was forced to say he was “incredibly sorry” for the failings the Libya crisis had exposed. Much good was accomplished on his trip to the Middle East, but he returned home under a cloud.
Hague to Gaddafi: This isn’t a conspiracy
Cameron and Hague apologise over Libya evacuations
And what, exactly, did he return to? Not much. With MPs away for their half-term break, the domestic political scene focused on a number of stories, none especially thrilling. Plans to shake up the public services by handing more and more of them to the private sector got politicos worked up on Monday. A Commons committee report confessed to bafflement at what exactly the term ‘frontline’ meant. And in a laudable but barely noticed report, Lord Davies of Abersoch said the number of women on FTSE 100 boards should double.
Cameron eyes private sector future for public services
‘Frontline’ definition confuses MPs
Number of women on board ‘should double’
The real attention, though, remained on the bigger picture. Britain’s sympathies were with New Zealand as the country, struggling under what some call the ‘tyranny of distance’, reeled from the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. And the Wikileaks saga continued, with Julian Assange handed another setback in his battle against extradition on Thursday.
‘The ties that bind’: UK offers help after New Zealand quake
