Top MP: Hammond 'Less-Than-Candid' Over Libya

An influential Commons committee has rejected the Foreign Secretary's latest "less-than-candid" assurances that there are no imminent plans to deploy British ground troops to Libya.

Philip Hammond is facing fresh calls to make a Commons statement from the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which has released the latest exchange of correspondence on the issue.

The row follows a visit by MPs on the committee to Egypt and Tunisia last month, during which they claimed they were told the UK was to contribute 1,000 troops to a 6,000-strong international force which would be sent to the north African country to support a new UN-backed government of national unity "in the near future".

In his latest letter to the committee, Mr Hammond said no decisions had been made about any future deployment.

He wrote: "I have taken the precaution of checking with our embassies in Cairo and Tunis.

"They have confirmed that at no point did British diplomats brief you to this effect. Your assertions are wrong on a number of accounts."

This drew an angry response from committee chairman Crispin Blunt, who said Mr Hammond's letter was designed to be "wholly and deliberately misleading to the uninformed reader".

The Conservative MP said: "As you are no doubt aware given your careful choice of words, the briefing came from another British source working at the direction of the defence attache and witnessed by British diplomats."

He added: "The Foreign Affairs Committee remains deeply concerned by potential British military involvement in Libya.

"The welcome candour of briefings by all whom we met in Cairo and Tunis contrasts sharply with your less-than-candid reply to my request for further detail on a rapidly developing situation that may require further active British engagement."

The former minister called on Mr Hammond to make a statement to the Commons "clarifying" the UK's current military involvement in Libya.

After the release of the correspondence, Mr Blunt told Sky News: "To start dancing around words like when is a plan not a plan, and the fact that no formal decision had been taken, therefore means Parliament shouldn't be involved in consideration of this, don't worry your little heads about it, struck me as less than candid and less than straightforward.

"The Government now has to come to Parliament to seek authority for the deployment of troops in this way."

A Foreign Office spokesman said there were no plans to deploy combat troops.

He said: "As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, the UK continues to work with international partners on how to best support the new Libyan government. This includes discussions about a Libyan International Assistance Mission.

"The Foreign Secretary has also been consistently clear that while no decisions have yet been taken, there are no plans to deploy combat troops and that planning has been focused on training Libyan security forces to provide their own security."