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Cameron 'Lacked Balls' Over Syria - Ex-Army Boss

Cameron 'Lacked Balls' Over Syria - Ex-Army Boss

David Cameron lacked the "balls" to take military action in Syria that could have prevented the rise of Islamic State, a former head of the Armed Forces has said.

In a scathing attack on the Prime Minister's approach, General Sir David Richards accused Mr Cameron of pursuing a "Notting Hill liberal agenda" rather than showing serious "statecraft".

Lord Richards, who was chief of the defence staff from October 2010 to July 2013, made the criticisms in an interview for a biography of Mr Cameron by Sir Anthony Seldon, being serialised in the Mail on Sunday.

He revealed last year that the Prime Minister had in 2012 rejected a "coherent military strategy" to take on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad which would in his view have seen the Islamic extremists "squeezed out of existence".

Analysts are split over whether earlier intervention in Syria would have halted the rise of IS.

In the biography - titled Cameron at 10: The Inside Story 2010-2015 - the former military chief is quoted as saying: "If they had the balls they would have gone through with it... if they'd done what I'd argued, they wouldn't be where they are with ISIS (IS)."

He adds: "In Ukraine, as in Syria and Libya, there is a clear lack of strategy and statecraft.

"The problem is the inability to think things through. Too often it seems to be more about the Notting Hill liberal agenda rather than statecraft."