THE foreign secretary, William Hague, is wasting £300m on a war with Libya and a lot of people are questioning his judgement, including senior naval and military commanders.

I feel that he embarked on this foolish war purely to save face and to bolster his ego.

Many politicians have hugely bombastic tendencies.

The reason for this deduction is as follows: Mr Hague sent a rescue mission to the rebels before the war to assist.

The unit was told to go away by the rebels and Mr Hague felt sheepish and foolish.

Mr Hague then persuaded representatives of NATO to back him in deposing Gaddafi.

NATO then embarked on this foolish mission at a time of great financial crisis in Europe. Indeed Italy has already pulled out. Gaddafi was not posing a threat to us and bridges had been made between Great Britain and Libya. Gaddafi’s followers are more Westernised than many of the rebels and speak English.

Frankly, Mr Hague has probably backed the wrong horse.

What our country really needs and desires is a parsimonious, penny-pinching foreign secretary and a generous home secretary.

Instead we have the exact reverse; an extravagant Foreign Office spending a fortune and Home Secretary Theresa May cutting the police force budget.

If the expenditure of the Foreign Office were diverted inland, many austerity measures could be softened.

I feel really sorry for the Justice Secretary Ken Clark. He has been handed a poisoned chalice. He needs to make savings, yet he cannot appear soft on crime.

He is in an impossible situation and looks as though he might be heading for a breakdown.

Mr Hague should trade places with Mr Clark and see how much fun that role is.

SUSAN THOMAS, Magdalen Road, Oxford