# Inside The Room - The Libya Conflict: The Campaign (Part Two) Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two.md Podcast: [Political Currency](https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276) Published: 2026-04-06T02:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/politicalcurrency-1/episodes/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64fb2b0f977e5a001226cb16/e/69ce9f2b3a785fb94b891c37/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two Duration seconds: 2096 ## Resource 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. Thanks for listening. In our third episode we take you right behind the scenes of the day Gaddafi was killed, and ask who was responsible for the post-war failures… Can’t wait? Subscribe now to get all three parts of Inside the Room: The Libya Conflict. You will also get access to our debrief episode The Inquiry, as well as early and ad-free access to our regular episodes of EMQs.  For even more perks, including our exclusive newsletter, join our Kitchen Cabinet today: 👉 patreon.com/politicalcurrency 👉 Apple Podcasts Please note: Kitchen Cabinet is only available via Patreon. Credits:  Re… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/political-currency-6989276/episodes/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/political-currency-6989276/inside-the-room-the-libya-conflict-the-campaign-part-two.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.