Hague blunder leaves Cameron red-faced

"How would you welcome new neighbours to your street?" asked the Shadow Home Secretary, Douglas Alexander. "Would you ring their doorbell, or climb over the back garden fence?"

That about sums up the mess William Hague has made of his "diplomatic mission" to Libya. It started with errors: no communication with the rebel leaders; poor military advice. It ended with a "serious misunderstanding" which could have cost British lives.

Under the cross-examination of his fellow MPs, Hague more closely resembled a child sulking on the naughty step than one of the UK's most senior politicians. Head bowed, he had little defence as MPs took turns to dissect the Foreign Secretary's "serial bungling".

"Ill-conceived, poorly planned and embarrassingly executed," former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell surmised.

It is the latest in a series of headaches for Prime Minister David Cameron, who is already on the back-foot over Prince Andrew's role as UK Trade Envoy, after revelations about his links to a convicted sex offender.

It is not the first time Hague has caused embarrassment for the Conservatives. During his spell as Party Leader he famously claimed to have drunk 14 pints a night in his youth - a comment which drew ridicule, rather than the street cred he may have hoped for.

Nevertheless, Cameron backed Hague by appointing him to one of the most senior positions in the Coalition Cabinet. At such a crucial point in the Libyan crisis, he might have expected a better return on that show of faith.

Watch Hague's explanation of events on the BBC Website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/house_of_commons/newsid_9417000/9417033.stm

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