Inside The Room - The Libya Conflict: The Campaign (Part Two)

About this episode

The episode explores the military intervention in Libya, focusing on intelligence operations and political decisions during the conflict.

Planes are in the air and the military intervention in Libya has now begun. But how does the operation progress from here? And what actually happens in a war room? In the second part of this mini series, Ed Balls and George Osborne ask Sir John Sawers about how MI6 gathered intelligence to guide the path forwards. He tells the story of leaving William Hague "aghast" by securing a visa for the Libyan foreign minister, who he then flattered with dinner at one of the service’s secure locations in return for crucial information…  The pair also speak to former deputy national security adviser Hugh Powell about why David Cameron always felt that action was better than inaction, and hear from Cathy Ashton about why the fall of Tripoli was a moment of success for the PM and Nicolas Sarkozy. However, with Gaddafi still alive and the UN mandate not accounting for regime change,  there was still reason to be apprehensive about the “huge challenge ahead”. Sawers and Powell discuss Gaddafi's skill of staying hidden, why MI6 doesn’t actually have a “license to kill”, and their approaches to negotiations with the dictator in his final weeks – including asking Tony Blair for help…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ed Balls, George Osborne

Guests: Sir John Sawers, Hugh Powell

Topics covered

• Libya conflict
• military intervention
• intelligence gathering
• diplomacy
• political leadership
• war room operations

Keywords

• Libya
• Gaddafi
• MI6
• military intervention
• intelligence
• diplomacy
• David Cameron
• Hugh Powell
• Cathy Ashton

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MI6, UN, William Hague

Places: Libya

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