Liam Fox allegations: Minister’s humiliating apology over ‘best man’ storm
- Cameron says he is ‘determined’ Defence Secretary should keep his job
- Concedes professional judgment had been clouded
- Fox and Cameron hold talks about crisis ahead of inquiry findings today
- Colleagues bewildered that Dr Fox has put friendship before career
- Werritty sat in on Saudi security meeting
- ‘Adviser’ joined Fox and his wife on holiday this year
By James Chapman
Last updated at 11:38 PM on 9th October 2011
Humiliation: Liam Fox, has been forced to apologise over his working relationship with close friend Adam Werritty
Liam Fox issued a humiliating apology last night over his working relationship with a close friend.
In a desperate attempt to save his job, the embattled Defence Secretary admitted he had ‘blurred the line’ between his personal and professional life.
Despite weekend speculation that Dr Fox would be cut adrift, David Cameron took the high-risk step of backing him last night. Senior sources said the Prime Minister was ‘determined’ Dr Fox should stay in his job barring further explosive revelations.
But the Defence Secretary must still await the outcome of a report today into his dealings with self-styled ‘adviser’ Adam Werritty, his best man and former flatmate. And he faces a torrid session in the Commons, where he will report to MPs on his recent trip to Libya.
In his statement, Dr Fox admitted his self styled ‘adviser’ Mr Werritty has financial interests in the defence industry and his frequent contacts with him could have given an impression of ‘wrongdoing’.
He also appeared to accept a potential breach of the ministerial code, which states that ministers must not only ensure no conflict arises between their public duties and private interests, but also that none ‘could reasonably be perceived to arise’.
And as new questions were asked about meetings Mr Werritty attended with Mr Fox in Dubai and Sri Lanka, the Defence Secretary conceded he had allowed his professional judgment to be clouded but insisted he had done nothing wrong.
The apology came just three days after Mr Fox had dismissed as ‘baseless’ allegations of special access for an old friend. Allies said he was determined to save his Cabinet job and is even prepared to cut links with Mr Werritty, who met him 14 times in the Ministry of Defence in just over a year.
Summit: Dr Fox and Mr Werritty meet with the Gulf Research Centre’s Saudi Arabian chairman Abudulaziz Sager during a visit to Dubai in 2007
On a day of political drama, both Dr Fox’s statement and Mr Cameron’s intervention appeared to pre-empt the findings of the inquiry into the Defence Secretary’s relationship with Mr Werritty, due on the Prime Minister’s desk today.
HOW WERRITY SAT IN ON SAUDI SECURITY MEETING
Liam Fox and Adam Werritty met an international defence communications contractor during a visit to Dubai in April 2007, it was revealed last night.
At the time, Dr Fox was the Shadow Defence Secretary while his friend was director of a defence consultancy called Security Futures, which was wound up last year.
They visited the Gulf Research Centre think-tank and were photographed with its Saudi Arabian chairman Abudulaziz Sager.
However, the Mail can reveal that Mr Sager is also the founder and president of Jeddah-based Sager Group Holdings, an investment firm which focuses on aviation and defence-related technology.
Its sister firm Security Services Company provides ‘a comprehensive range of security consulting and professional services to airports, airlines, governments and industries’, according to its website.
The Gulf Research Centre lost its licence to operate in the United Arab Emirates this June on orders from the government although the reasons for its closure were not made public.
A Dubai-based security source told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s not the first time the GRC has been involved in something which could be construed as mysterious and meetings like these where the reason for them is not particularly clear are part of why it was closed down.’
Dr Fox, seen as the keeper of the Thatcherite flame in the Cabinet, arrived back from Libya in the early hours of yesterday and he and the Prime Minister held crisis talks over a growing tide of allegations and innuendo. He is understood to have apologised to Mr Cameron.
Labour has accused the Defence Secretary of lying over one meeting brokered in Dubai by Mr Werritty, at which a highly sensitive telecommunications deal to allow soldiers to phone relatives and a controversial High Court battle were discussed with a Dubai businessman.
The Defence Secretary admitted last night that no civil servant was present at the meeting, and aides insisted his Labour shadow Jim Murphy must have ‘misunderstood’ if he believed Dr Fox had told him a Ministry of Defence official was there. In his statement, Dr Fox conceded his close ties to Mr Werritty might have given the ‘misleading impression’ that he was an official adviser. He insists that as soon as he became aware that his friend was handing out business cards styling himself as an adviser to him he told him to stop.
Labour’s former Armed Forces Minister Kevan Jones said Dr Fox’s statement was ‘remarkable’.
‘Just 24 hours ago Liam Fox called these allegations “baseless” and now he has apologised, but yet is denying any wrongdoing took place,’ he said.
‘The Defence Secretary simply cannot have sensitive meetings behind the back of his officials. This is incredibly serious and this response is incredible.’
One factor in Mr Cameron’s support for Dr Fox is concern that he could become a focal point for right-wing disaffection with the Coalition if he returned to the back benches.
Colleagues are privately bewildered that Dr Fox has put his career at risk for the sake of a friendship.
Loyal: Fox with this his wife Jesme at the Tory conference. It has been revealed the couple holidayed with Adam Werritty to the Costa Brave earlier this year
‘Nobody really thinks there is anything inappropriate, and the innuendo that has been put about by Labour is really quite sickening. But it’s a bit like William Hague – there’s a slight naivety about how a friendship could look to others.’
Friends said Dr Fox was determined to ride out the storm and will face questions on the affair today in the House of Commons.
‘He’s contrite, he accepts that mistakes were made,’ said one. ‘He knows he shouldn’t have allowed any impression of wrongdoing to occur or allowed people to think there was any crossover between his professional role and his friendship.
‘Obviously it’s been a very difficult few days but he is determined to carry on.’
Close: Werrity was Fox’s best man at his wedding, but just what else has he been trusted with?
Whitehall Correspondent DANIEL MARTIN examines how the Defence Secretary increasingly blurred the lines between his professional and personal life to put his position under threat.
DUBAI
The most damaging allegations facing Dr Fox concern a meeting in a Dubai hotel in June with Adam Werritty and three businessmen at which a sensitive telecommunications deal was discussed. One of the three was Harvey Boulter, chief executive of Porton Capital, whose subsidiary Cellcrypt wanted to sell the Ministry of Defence voice encryption technology to allow soldiers in Afghanistan to phone relatives without fear that the Taliban was listening in.
Crucially, a high-profile court case that Mr Boulter was fighting against an American firm was allegedly brought up. Dr Fox had always admitted the meeting took place, but claimed it occurred only because the businessmen happened to be on a table next to them. He also told the Shadow Defence Secretary that an MoD official was present. However, emails from Mr Werritty, which emerged yesterday, appear to show that he had been trying to arrange the meeting since at least April. In addition, Dr Fox now admits that there was no official at the meeting.
SRI LANKA
Dr Fox has always claimed that Adam Werritty has never met any foreign dignitaries, or travelled abroad in his entourage, since he became Defence Secretary.
Allegations: This image from a video appears to show Adam Werritty (right) at a meeting with Liam Fox and the Sri Lankan president at a London hotel
Meeting: Liam Fox is seen greeting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa (left) while Adam Werritty is seen sitting down on the right of screen grab of footage (right)
But he faces questions over video footage appearing to show Mr Werritty shaking the hands of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa as Dr Fox met him in a London hotel room last year. And two photos also show his former flatmate was present in Sri Lanka when Dr Fox met ministers there in July. Mr Werritty has no official role with either the Tories or the Government, and there are concerns that he was present when issues of national security or commercial sensitivity were discussed. Dr Fox had claimed his friend was present only at a private social function in Sri Lanka and was not there officially.
BUSINESS CARD
Adam Werritty has been handing out business cards describing himself as an ‘advisor’ to Liam Fox, even though he had no official role with the Government or the Conservative Party. There are at least two versions of the widely-distributed cards, both bearing the House of Commons crest. One described himself as Dr Fox’s advisor, while the other was ‘from the office of Dr Fox’. Last week the Defence Secretary told him to stop distributing the cards.
MoD MEETINGS
MR Werritty had 14 meetings with Dr Fox in 16 months at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. The meetings have sparked concerns that he could have had access to sensitive documents, but the MoD says he did not see any official papers and therefore did not need security clearance.
CHARITY
In 1997, Dr Fox set up a controversial charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was run by Mr Werritty from the MP’s room in Parliament. The organisation, whose patron was Lady Thatcher, was an educational and research charity designed to forge links between Britain and the US. Mr Werritty earned more than £90,000 as its chief executive between 2007 and 2010. But this year it was dissolved after the Charity Commission said it had done nothing to advance education, and was too party political.
COMMERCIAL LINKS
The parallels between Dr Fox’s various political jobs and Mr Werritty’s business careers have raised eyebrows. When the MP was the Tory spokesman on health, Mr Werritty ran the consultancies UK Health Supply Services and UK Health Ltd, in which both he and Dr Fox were investors. After Dr Fox became shadow defence secretary, Mr Werritty set up Security Futures, offering defence and security expertise to business. Critics have questioned whether Mr Werritty benefited commercially from his relationship with Dr Fox by offering consultancy advice on whatever job he happened to have at any time.
FLATMATES
Dr Fox was so close to Adam Werritty that he let him live rent-free at his expenses-funded flat between 2002 and 2003. And Mr Werritty listed the London residence when he set up a defence consultancy firm, Security Futures, which is now defunct.
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