Analysis: Uncomfortable questions on lobbyists won’t go away

The resignation of Liam Fox was largely about containment, to save his former colleagues from potentially a much bigger scandal. But, nevertheless, it has left nagging questions about the conduct of the coalition government.

Dr Fox had to go before questions began to spread about the influence of lobbyists with other ministers and it became a contagion that did far more damage to the government than the loss of one of its more senior members. It was for this reason that David Cameron’s support was lukewarm at best in the days running up to last Friday’s resignation.

In opposition, Mr Cameron himself had identified lobby companies as the next big problem to hit parliament in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandals. And Dr Fox’s activities and the “blurred” relationship between his job and his friendship with Adam Werritty have now put lobbying into the spotlight.

There remain many unanswered questions over the network of donations and links, as well as potential access to a senior minister and government decisions, that have emerged in the whole affair.

One of those questions is whether Dr Fox was alone among his ministerial colleagues in being potentially so open to special interests, although it would be a surprise if any of them had been so brazen in taking their friend around the world in the same way.

Also, rather uncomfortably for the government, it has shown that the coalition’s promise to regulate lobbying quickly has been put on the back burner. It will not, as promised, be put through this year and, in fact, cannot be in place until 2013 at the earliest.

In the meantime, the activities of lobbyists and some current MPs raise more uncomfortable questions about undue influence on government policy.

One of Sir Gus O’Donnell’s recommendations was that the permanent secretaries in government departments should be informed of private meetings ministers have with others where substantive issues are discussed but no official is present. Many will be surprised that this rule was not in place already, and Dr Fox’s activities appear to have highlighted how easy it may have been to get access if you knew the right people.