Over the weekend, one of Zimbabwe’s leading clerics called on Britain to invade his country and topple President Robert Mugabe.

Pius Ncube, the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, told The Sunday Times that millions were facing death from famine, unable to survive amid inflation believed to have soared to 15,000%.

“I think it is justified for Britain to raid Zimbabwe and remove Mugabe,” he said. “We should do it ourselves but there’s too much fear.”

According to The Sunday Times, some parts of Zimbabwe have seen 95% of crops fail, leaving families with only two or three weeks’ food supply to last a year. Christopher Dell, the American ambassador, has predicted that by the end of the year inflation could hit 1,500,000%.

Britain, of course, used to do these sorts of interventions. New Labour’s ethical foreign policy was one of the key drivers behind the NATO strikes on the Serbs in 1999. Then came Iraq.

Some of the strongest supporters of intervention in the Balkans are some of the strongest opponents of intervention in Iraq. So now it seems that “engagement” is the key.

Which brings us to another British newspaper report. “Portugal is prepared to invite President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to a summit of European and African leaders in Lisbon this year despite an EU travel ban and sanctions against the 83-year-old dictator and figures in his regime,” The Guardian tells us today.

Despite an EU travel ban and sanctions and a wreck of a country.