Cameron, Liberal Interventionist

He is edging towards it. The Heir to Blair said this in his statement on Libya to the Commons today:

To those who say it is nothing to do with us, I would simply respond, “Do we want a situation where a failed pariah state festers on Europe’s southern border, potentially threatening our security, pushing people across the Mediterranean and creating a more dangerous and uncertain world for Britain and for all our allies as well as for the people of Libya?” Of course we do not want that, and that is why Britain is and will remain at the forefront of the response to this crisis.

Note that he says we “do not want” Gaddafi to unleash a war on his own people and become a pariah again, and not “we must stop him”. And it was notable that he went on to say:

No one is talking about invasions, boots on the ground and the rest of it.

But you would have to be a hardened cynic, Gary Gibbon, to say that

those close to David Cameron will be hoping that he has done enough to avoid the blame if there is more carnage in Libya.

Trying to prevent Libya becoming a festering pariah state sounds like a foreign policy objective, not just a piece of political positioning.

The interventionists have not yet made a strong enough case for military action from outside, but David Cameron has made it pretty clear where he stands if they do.

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