The most bizarre couple of sentences that I have read recently came from Jonathan Powell's memoir, The New Machiavelli.
Powell, then Chief of Staff to Tony Blair, is writing about the immediate aftermath of 9/11:
"After 9/11 it was clear that military action was essential, but we were all a bit hazy about Afghanistan and the Taliban, neither of which had been high on our radar screen till then. The day after the attack [9/11], I walked up Whitehall to Waterstone's on Trafalgar Square and bought all the books I could find on the Taliban."
This is a man who had been the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff for four years. A man who had worked in the Foreign Office from 1979 to 1995. A man who knew his way round Whitehall. Whose calls would be answered pronto.
He realises that he is a bit "hazy" about the Taliban. You might think that he could ring up the desk officers at the Foreign Office who were responsible for Afghanistan. He might call the British ambassador in Kabul or the High Commissioner in Karachi. He might get in touch with some Islamic academics and scholars from our great universities. He might even have a word with the State Department. After all, this is the day after 9/11 and most people would be willing to help out.
But no. Forget all the huge resources (and indeed costs) of the UK Foreign Office, its embassies, High Commissions and our allies. Much better, thought the former FCO mandarin, before we declare war (a war that has seen 358 British soldiers killed to date), to walk up Whitehall to good old Waterstone's and see what they have on the Taliban.
This morning, Nick Robinson reported on the Today programme how on Monday David Cameron had favoured a "liberal interventionist" response to the crisis in Libya; and that on Tuesday he took a more realpolitik line.
There is some clearly some tension at the heart of the Coalition's foreign policy. So if we want to find out which side of the fence he is going to come down on, perhaps we should keep an eye on the movements of the current Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Ed LLewellyn. Let us know if you see him browsing the Libya shelves at Waterstone's. Or would he prefer Hatchard's?
