It has become open season for the Tory party, according to its custom, to rubbish its former leader when it appoints a new one, especially if that leader became, as was once guaranteed, prime minister. Now things are a little different in that only two of the last five leaders of the Tory party made it to Downing Street and only one on a popular mandate, Cameron. Therefore it would be right to be cautious about the censure he now faces for his Libya adventure, but sadly it has to be acknowledged by any measure it was a disaster. The intervention destroyed a country, led to anarchy, banditry, terrorism, people trafficking on an industrial scale and yet another failed state. One would have supposed something would have been learned from the Iraq debacle, but no.
Cameron’s premiership is beginning to look like a disaster. He was a tactical politician in charge at a strategic moment. He could see the immediate but not the ultimate. So we had Syria, Ukraine, Libya and Brexit, all of which could have been avoided with a strategic analysis of where the policy would wind up, if things did not go quite according to plan. The latest mishap, Brexit, is a prime example. Outcome the opposite of intention and no plan prepared just in case.
One day people will remember that he was loyal to colleagues and staff perhaps to a fault, championed equality and human rights, mostly at odds with the right wing of his party, including and especially gay marriage. Much of that has been positive and life enhancing for many and eventually one hopes Cameron’s name will be stamped on the good memories as well as the bad ones.