Learn from our election mistakes, Boris Johnson tells Libyan politicians

Boris Johnson has told Libyan politicians to learn from Theresa May's mistakes and avoid holding elections until they are ready.

The Foreign Secretary made the remarks about the Conservatives' disastrous election result during a two-day visit to the North African country, where he urged military and political leaders to restore peace and stability, according to the BBC.

The head of Libya's unity government issued a warning this week that Europe faced a growing risk from terrorists unless it did more to help his country stem the massive tide of illegal migrants.

Mr Johnson, in a separate interview on his return to the UK, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Britain had been too optimistic following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, which plunged the country into unrest.

He said: "Of course we were way overoptimistic about what would happen when we got rid of Gaddafi.

"We thought that the elections in 2014 would be a solution and actually they made things worse.

"That's the point I've been making over the last couple of days to people in Libya.

"They need to glue back together the two sides of the country, they need to come together with a political agreement.

"I think that politicians in Libya need, as it were, to suppress their own selfish interest to compromise for the good of the country and get behind the UN plan."

He defended funding the Libyan coastguard, amid accusations it had fired on NGO boats that were attempting to rescue drowning migrants.

Mr Johnson said: "Where there is evidence of breach of the law of the sea or illegal behaviour then obviously that's to be deplored, but none of that has been shown to us.

"That's why we are training the Libyan coastguard and they are very grateful for what we are doing."

This was the first visit to Benghazi by a government minister since 2011 and the first time that the Foreign Secretary had met Field Marshall Haftar, head of the Libyan National Army, as well as members of the House of Representatives representing Benghazi.

AP