The downfall of a dictator is always welcome. Especially welcome is the downfall of Colonel Gaddafi’s brutal and quixotic rule of Libya. Thus ends the west’s contorted relationship with the serial tyrant. Until a few years ago, his toppling would have been greeted with open delight in western capitals. But in recent years, the Libyan leader had been brought in from international isolation, cast as an ally in the ‘war on terror’ and a valued business partner. Britain led the way, with Tony Blair visiting Gaddafi in early 2004 to declare a ‘new relationship’ with the pariah. In the immediate aftermath of the bloody demise of the Gaddafi regime, Blair’s actions could be construed as cold, calculating and ultimately very wrong.

Spurred by the universal disgust with Gaddafi’s Libya, sense and judgment have too often flown out of the window as normally intelligent commentators vie in their denunciation of any person, or country, who acted in the public interest by deepening ties with the Libyan people, its institutions or economy. Gaddafi was often the beneficiary of the crassest of western intervention, veering between ineffective sanctions and ostracism to Blair’s deliberate programme of engagement. But Blair’s rapprochement with Libya was founded on assumptions that dominated the post-9/11 decade: the west’s intent to fight al-Qaida, the wider global war on terror, and the duty and responsibility to return a repentant Libya to the international fold.

Much has been said about British oil interests in Libya. When Blair visited Gaddafi in 2004, British business followed in the prime minister’s wake and lucrative oil contracts were indeed signed. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, for one example, signed a deal worth up to £550m for gas exploration rights off the Libyan coast. As if to reinforce the point, the new Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC last week that British businesses should ‘pack their suitcases’ in order to secure reconstruction contracts in the war-torn country.

Welcome to realpolitik. Many commentators are arguing as if western pragmatism and realpolitik were responsible for keeping Gaddafi in power. That is nonsense. Foreign policy has to deal with the world as it is, not as we would wish it to be. Incidentally, before the uprising in Libya there was no sign of the Tory-led government following a different policy, for all their wise-after-the-event high-minded statements since.

Changing attitudes to the colonel highlight the way in which western concerns over despots are almost always coloured by convenience. During the 1990s and into the 2000s the tensions gradually abated.  As part of his crab-like moves away from terrorism, Gaddafi renounced weapons of mass destruction. Just imagine the consequences today if he had succeeded in developing them. It is well worth noting that in the capitulation over his covert arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, Gaddafi did not go to Kofi Annan, the then UN secretary general, or to Jacque Chirac, the then French president. Or indeed to Gerhard Schroeder of Germany. No, he went to Blair and dismantled his nuclear programme.

From Gordon Brown’s dissimulation over the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, to the sight of Silvio Berlusconi kissing the hand of the Libyan tyrant, many countries’ reputations have been stained. Libyan oil wealth, moreover, found its way into companies and institutions across Europe, from the Juventus football team to the London School of Economics.

In the space of seven short years Gaddafi went from being courted by the west to being cornered in a sewer, bombed by the same countries that had talked of bringing him in from the cold. The policy should now be to do all we can, with others, to put such Libya on to the path of transition. Opening up its economy, helping to tap its natural resource wealth, deepening its integration with the rest of the world – Libyans need all the help they can get to build a better Libya. Pragmatic engagement is always better than isolation. But it’s best to be honest about it.

Dave Talbot is a member of Progress

Photo: Mohammed Shamma