BeritaTREN.COM

David Cameron, so gung-ho in advocating military intervention in Libya, was unequivocal about what the outcome must be. ‘To end the suffering of the Libyan people’, he said in March, ‘Gaddafi and his clique must leave.’

This week, after more than four months of bombing by RAF jets, Gaddafi remains stubbornly in power, and the Prime Minister is staging a humbling retreat.

The tyrant must relinquish control, Downing Street now says, but can remain in the country he has brutalised over the past four decades.

Never mind the huge boost this abject volte-face must give to the Gaddafi loyalists (and how demoralising it must be for the rebels), there must be grave doubts as to how this would work without precipitating civil war.

A murderous Gaddafi family in internal exile would surely spend its time plotting a bloodthirsty revenge.

What is most worrying is the lack of political judgment this debacle has exposed. First Mr Cameron ignored warnings – not least from this paper – that it was a mistake to make an open-ended commitment to Libya when our military resources were already so stretched.

Then he presided over utter confusion about whether it would be right or even legal to target and kill Gaddafi himself.

In the wake of Iraq and Afghanistan, our politicians have actually diminished still further Britain’s military standing in the world.

To begin, the bad news. Growth in the UK economy was undeniably sluggish in the three months to June, with GDP increasing by only 0.2 per cent, down from 0.5 per cent in the previous three months.

And, with businesses still throttled by red tape, the banks unforgivably refusing to lend and huge increases in food and energy prices leaving consumers with little to spend on the High Street, challenging times inevitably lie ahead.

But let’s be clear that – whatever the doom-mongering BBC may suggest – it’s not all bad news.

The Office for National Statistics said that, had it not been for events such as the additional bank holiday for the royal wedding, and the Japan earthquake, GDP would have increased by a more healthy 0.7 per cent between April and June.

Encouragingly, half a million jobs have been created in the private sector over the past year and, thanks to the commitment by George Osborne to reduce public spending, Britain can borrow on the money markets at a lower rate than almost any other country.

Yes, choppy waters lie ahead (particularly in the Eurozone). But Labour’s demand that the Coalition slow the necessary cuts in public spending – a reckless strategy that risks Britain going the same way as debt-ridden Greece – is not the answer.

Rather the Chancellor, who is making welcome noises about reducing corporation tax, must redouble his efforts to promote growth. He can start by fulfilling that shamefully long-overdue promise to slash red tape.

End this border farce

First Raed Salah, denounced as a ‘virulent anti-Semite’ in the House of Commons, was able to waltz through border checks at Heathrow Airport despite being banned from the UK.

Then, when finally detained by police, the Islamic preacher lodged an appeal against deportation under – you guessed it – the Human Rights Act.

Now a court has granted him bail and he is today pictured mockingly walking our streets.

The Tories promised to end Labour’s immigration and human rights madness.

Every day we are kept waiting is an affront to common sense and justice. dailymail.co.uk