Liam Fox left vulnerable as Cameron orders inquiry

DEFENCE Secretary Liam Fox’s career was on the line last night as fresh questions arose over his decision to allow a close friend to set up and take part in sensitive military deals.

As David Cameron demanded immediate answers over Fox’s dealings with his former flatmate and best man Adam Werritty by tomorrow, inconsistencies emerged in the Tory MP’s claims about a meeting the pair held with defence manufacturers in Dubai last June.

Yesterday, Fox claimed that the meeting with the defence groups happened by “chance … when they happened to be sitting at a nearby table in a restaurant”. He was responding to claims that Werritty had “brokered” the meeting.

But e-mails published last night show Werritty did indeed set up the meeting, to discuss the use of sensitive communications technology for use in Libya, the day before with one of the business figures there, Harvey Boulter, the chief executive of Porton Group.

In one, Boulter is recorded asking Werritty whether “you and boss” would like to come to his house in Dubai. Werritty replies the following morning that he would prefer to meet in the “41st-floor lounge” at the Shang-ri-la hotel where Fox was staying.

Last night, the Defence Secretary issued a clarification about his earlier statement saying he wanted to make it clear that it was Werritty who had the chance meeting in the Dubai restaurant and not he.

With discrepancies emerging in the accounts, he now faces massive pressure to explain why a close friend with no security clearance or any official connection to the Ministry of Defence appears to have had such influence and commercial sway over sensitive military matters.

Boulter said yesterday that he did not have any idea in June that Werritty had no official role. He said he had “over-reached the friendship” by dealing in such matters. Boulter is also reported as saying that he first met Werritty to arrange a meeting with Fox in April. “The fact that a meeting was going to happen was pre-arranged in April. A meeting with the MoD doesn’t happen by chance. I’m sure I wouldn’t have just got to meet him [Fox] unless I’d been pre-briefed,” he said.

Fox announced on Friday that he had asked the Ministry of Defence’s permanent secretary, Ursula Brennan, to carry out an inquiry into the matter, with a two-week deadline.

But in a sign that Downing Street wants a quick end to the growing speculation about Fox’s position, the Prime Minister decided yesterday to step in by asking Sir Gus O’Donnell, head of the civil service, to bring him the initial findings of the inquiry. Previous parliamentary questions have established that Werrity has visited the MoD headquarters 14 times in the past 16 months.

It emerged last week that Werritty had printed business cards claiming to be an “adviser” to Fox, along with another which claimed he worked at the “Office of Dr Liam Fox MP”. He also attended an official function in Sri Lanka with the Defence Secretary in July.

It is also claimed that Werritty ran a right-wing pressure group from inside the Secretary of State’s parliamentary office. Werritty is not employed by the government or by Fox.

In 2005, he was Fox’s best man and he is also understood to have shared a flat with the East Kilbride-born MP.

The succession of revelations has prompted growing fears in Tory circles that Fox had failed to follow the proper code of conduct by involving a close friend with no security clearance in discussions about military equipment and sensitive MoD issues.

On a visit to Libya yesterday, Fox said: “They are all reasonable questions for people to ask and I think it is right to look into the details of them and I will stand by that.”

The civil service inquiry will examine the access to departmental premises and information given to Werritty, and will examine whether or not there was a breach of security. However, Fox will be left extremely vulnerable if it is shown that Werritty was given access to the department or was able to exploit their friendship.

Boulter and the other businessmen in the meeting wanted to discuss plans to pass new communications technology to Libyan rebels.

As the MoD confirmed that no officials had been present at Fox’s side, Labour last night said that the Defence Secretary should at the very least have had a civil servant present in such a discussion involving potentially classified matters.

Brennan confirmed her investigation would “examine the access to departmental premises and information afforded to Mr Werritty, and establish that there has been no breach of security”. It will also turn the spotlight on the role of officials to check whether the “department acted in accordance with guidance”.

The review will come up with recommendations on “any action necessary in the light of these inquiries, including any action necessary to clarify the current guidance”.

Cameron’s request for a speedy report into the early findings of the investigation does not rule out a lengthy investigation continuing.

Fox now faces a tense wait to discover his fate. He is due to attend Defence Questions tomorrow afternoon in the House of Commons.

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: “This issue has gone from being embarrassing to being controversial and has now moved way beyond that.”