Fox Gets PM’s Support for Now
 |
October 10, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Downing Street retains “full confidence” in the Defence Secretary after he apologised for Adam Werritty’s ambiguous presence around the MoD.
The Defence Secretary Liam Fox continues to command the support of the Prime Minister following further revelations relating to the activities of his close friend Adam Werritty.
In an interview with Sky News this morning, the Prime Minister said: “It’s very important, in politics and in life, to be scrupulously fair. He is an excellent defence secretary. He is an excellent defence secretary. He is answering these questions in the right way and at the right time.”
However, in a press conference happening around the same time, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson added that Mr Fox’s position will not be properly evaluated until the full findings of a MoD inquiry are forwarded to Downing Street on October 21.
It was Mr Fox himself who set up the inquiry after he was accused of breaking the ministerial code over the presence of Mr Werritty in and around the MoD. Mr Werritty is not employed by the MoD or the Conservative Party. Yet he has handed out business cards advertising himself as one of the Defence Secretary’s advisers. He also brokered a meeting between Mr Fox and defence industry businessmen in Dubai last June.
Previously, Mr Fox had denied that Mr Werritty had accompanied him on foreign trips. However, the publication of a photograph which shows Mr Werritty following closely behind the defence secretary in Sri Lanka suggested otherwise. The MoD responded by contending that Mr Fox was, at the time, attending a private function.
The same explanation has been forwarded following the emergence of a Sri Lankan TV report which shows Mr Werritty at Mr Fox’s meeting with the Sri Lankan president in London last year.
Yesterday, Mr Fox apologised for the appearance of “wrongdoing” incurred by Mr Werritty’s presence at such events.
“I do accept that given Mr Werritty’s defence-related business interests, my frequent contacts with him may have given the impression of wrongdoing, and may also have given third parties the misleading impression that Mr Werritty was an official adviser rather than simply a friend.”
By Dermot Tobin
[Image Courtesy Of The Prime Minister’s Office]
