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15 Sep, 2016 11:29

Hold Cameron to account for ‘ill conceived’ Libya war – Tory MP

Former PM David Cameron should be summoned to Parliament to account for his decisions during the ‘ill-conceived’ 2011 Libya war, according to a Tory MP.

The call follows a scathing report by the Foreign Affairs Committee which found Cameron “ultimately responsible” for the disastrous war which plunged the North African state into chaos and led to the rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the region.

Romford MP Andrew Rosindell, who sits on the committee, said the former PM, who stepped down as MP a day before the report was published, should be summoned before the committee at the “earliest opportunity.

Rosindell told the Telegraph on Wednesday that he would ask the committee’s outspoken chairman Crispin Blunt “to summon David Cameron.

It is right that he should give us a full account of what happened. I would have thought Mr. Cameron would want to defend himself, given the serious nature of the allegations we have made against him.

However, Cameron has allies on the issue of Libya. One the UK’s most powerful civil servants has spoken in his favor.

Speaking to the Guardian on Wednesday evening, cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood argued there had been no issues with the decision-making processes in Whitehall.

He also rejected a suggestion made in the report that intelligence and defense chiefs should be able to ask for a specific instruction if they believe their orders go against national interests.

On Wednesday, the UK former ambassador to Libya, Oliver Miles, put up a robust defense of the war while speaking to RT.

He also rejected claims that the conflict had parallels with Iraq, arguing that in Libya there had been a revolution in the country which had been “successful in the east and unsuccessful in the west” resulting in Gaddafi’s threats to carry out a campaign of genocide.

He said the international community had, despite the shortage of time, acted quickly at the UN to prevent that genocide.

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