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There was a positively Napoleonic ring to David Cameron's language as he outlined the Conservatives' approach to defence and security at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, this morning. There is to be a national security adviser and a national security council "“ which would be "cross departmental". This would make up the gaps and deficiencies left by the strategy of Labour and the way it has run its wars over the past 11 years.

It was as if the Emperor Bonaparte himself was announcing his new scheme of the Conseil d'Etat. Like the Little Corporal, the leader of the opposition saw himself as innovator and master planner. The mistakes of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns launched by Labour were in "failures of planning." His shadow minister for...