Steve Richards: Cameron has his worst week – and more are to come

Inside Westminster

A recent tradition in British politics is to describe a week in the life of the Prime Minister as the worst in his career so far. Tony Blair used to joke: "This has been my worst week until the next one."

In the media, at least, the fashion began with John Major, who suffered many worst-ever weeks.

Irrespective of media verdicts, David Cameron's more candid allies accept that, at least in the way events are perceived, the past few days have indeed been the worst for the Prime Minister since he moved into No 10.

The sequence is simultaneously dark and comical. As Libya erupts, Cameron flies off to the Middle East with a group of arms salesmen. He makes a speech preaching the virtues of democracy and then proceeds with his trade mission, flogging arms to regimes not known for robust attachment to democratic principles.

As much poorer countries effortlessly transport their people from the dangers of Libya, William Hague struggles to charter a plane from Britain. When a flying machine is finally identified, it leaves Gatwick Airport nine hours late. Meanwhile the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, is on a skiing holiday, but interrupts his vacation briefly to note that perhaps he was meant to have been in charge, and had forgotten.

On the surface, the narrative reads like a work of fictional farce and yet a closer analysis shows that Cameron was to some extent trapped in a drama out of his control. In No 10 there is a mixture of bewilderment and concern at Hague's sluggish response to the crisis and some renewed speculation within the Government about whether the Foreign Secretary has lost his appetite for politics.

Hague tends to be laid-back in public, conveying a Buddhist calm. Sometimes, such serenity is an asset but his manner during the crisis has seemed closer to that of a grey mandarin. His recent public appearances remind me of the civil servant who delivered daily statements on TV during the Falklands war in the era when politicians could hide from the media and let an official do the talking.

Cameron cannot be blamed directly for the performance of Hague and his officials as they struggled to find a plane. Nor is the Prime Minister at fault for being out of the country as the crisis intensified. He had scheduled his arms-selling tour for the week of the parliamentary recess, not to coincide with a revolt in Libya.

Of course, Cameron should not have been involved in such a tour at all, but he joins a long line of Prime Ministers who see much-needed cash for the British economy in the arms trade. Once in the Middle East he could not avoid the overwhelming topic of our times and gave a speech on the virtues of democracy. The juxtaposition looked absurd and hypocritical, but sometimes a leader has no choice other than to be both. Cameron could hardly have delivered a speech on the virtues of Arab dictators.

As for Clegg's strange comment, I assume it was meant to be light-hearted. He and Cameron are struggling with their holiday arrangements more generally. Clegg felt his summer holiday was too short last year and was determined to have his skiing break.

Cameron insists he can be in charge when out of the country, which is obviously the case in this era of modern communication. There was no need for Clegg to return early as he agreed to do in order to attend yesterday's emergency Cobra meeting. I thought he looked thunderous as he was filmed arriving for the gathering, although I am told he accepts that tumultuous events justified a curtailed break.

I have sympathy with senior politicians who are more often than not at the mercy of events. They are nowhere near as powerful as they seem. As for holidays, they work long hours and deserve more of them than they get.

The problem – and the danger for Cameron – is that while there are always mitigating circumstances for what appears to be deranged incompetence, the past week is no aberration. There are too many echoes. Cameron's apology for the cock-ups involved in getting British people out of Libya was the second from the Government in the space of a week.

His words followed those of Caroline Spelman's in relation to the Government's plans for the forests, which have now been dropped. Michael Gove has apologised for making mistakes over which schools were losing their building budgets. More specifically, Hague should have acted more speedily in this case. In some ministerial circles there is an attempt to blame officials at the Foreign Office, but the former Labour Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane is quick to point out that this is a department that delivers when given clear instructions to do so.

It all points to a casual approach to government from a deeply inexperienced leadership. Suddenly other initiatives seem even more worrying: the NHS reforms in which No 10 indicated they had not realised how radical they were; last summer's Comprehensive Spending Review carried out in such a rush; the reason behind Spelman's moves to sell off the forests. Is there a disturbing pattern taking shape?

Yesterday's confirmation that the economy had contracted in the final quarter of last year suggests that Cameron, and perhaps the rest of us, will experience many more "worst weeks" in the coming year.

So, was it worth it? What came out of Cameron's tour

Qatar

*Centrica agreed a £2bn deal with Qatargas to supply ten per cent of Britain's gas needs.

*The two nations agreed to double bilateral trade to £4.4bn over the next five years.

*Qatari PM indicated plans to buy stakes in RBS and the Lloyds.

*BAe Systems said it was in talks with Qatar over sale of combat jets.

Kuwait

*The two nations agreed to double bilateral trade and investment to £4bn over the next four years.

*Britain to join in Kuwaiti plans to invest in ports, airports, railways, healthcare, education and energy.

*Kuwait National Petroleum signed memoranda of understanding with BP and Shell.

Oman

*David Cameron said Britain had "ambitious plans to make sure that the two-way trade and the two-way investment continues".

*BAe Systems announced that it was in talks over a deal for combat jets.