During defence questions, which proceeded Liam Fox’s statement to the House of Commons on his defence responsibilities and his relationship with Adam Werritty, it was clear that the defence secretary was wound pretty tightly. He almost lost his temper during an answer about the “budget black hole” that Labour had left in his department.
The statement itself raised more questions than it answered. Fox repeated his partial apology from yesterday, saying:
“I accept that it was a mistake to allow distinctions between profession and personal to be blurred… I apologise for this.”
He did not, however, offer any explanation for why Adam Werritty was aware of his diary arrangements, why the two had met 22 times in the department and 18 times on trips abroad since Fox became secretary of state, and why, until Fox asked him to stop in June, Werritty was handing out cards that claimed he was Fox’s adviser.
Fox also hinted that the much-debated meeting with Harvey Boulter in Dubai had happened by chance rather than design when Boulter happened to be at an adjacent restaurant table to Werrity and his girlfriend, and Werrity, who seemed to have intimate knowledge of Fox’s diary, set up a meeting knowing that the secretary of state would be stopping over on his way back from Afghanistan.
Fox said that he “takes full responsibility” for having a meeting without a civil servant present, and that he notified his private office afterwards.
The defence secretary remained adamant that Werrity had no access to classified information, was never briefed by departmental officials and that he had told him to stop using the ‘adviser to Liam Fox’ business cards when he first found out about them in June. He accepted that “with the benefit of hindsight” he should have been more transparent about his meetings.
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy was relentless in his insistence that Fox had breached the ministerial code, but stopped short of calling for his resignation. He merely stated that “the code is clear” on this matter and that this crisis was “self-inflicted”.
Fox received strong support from Conservative backbenchers following his statement, but this exchange has by no means closed the subject. What action, if any, is taken on this matter is up to the prime minister now.
UPDATE 1701 Downing Street have released a statement. They say that "serious mistakes" were made, but don't address any of the points in detail. Here's the full statement:
"The prime minister has now seen the interim findings of the Ministry of Defence's Permanent Secretary review into Liam Fox's relationship with Mr Adam Werrity, and discussed them with the Cabinet Secretary.
"It is clear, as Liam Fox himself said yesterday, that serious mistakes were made in allowing the distinction between professional responsibilities and personal loyalties to be blurred - and this has clearly raised concerns about impropriety and potential conflicts of interest. While the Permanent Secretary's initial conclusion is that no classified or other defence related official information was discussed with or given to Mr Werrity by the Secretary of State or the department, it is clear that much tighter procedures are needed within the department to ensure that the Ministerial Code is properly adhered to in future.
"Following these interim findings the Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to work with the Permanent Secretary to complete the report, addressing all the remaining questions that have been raised by this issue."
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