Miliband keeps up pressure as Cameron tries to draw a line under scandal

David Cameron attempted to draw a line under the scandal that lost him his defence secretary last week, as he faced questions over how many ministers were linked to Liam’s Fox’s friend, Adam Werritty.

Challenged by Ed Miliband in Prime Minister’s Questions to give a “categorical guarantee” that no other ministers had unofficial advisers, Mr Cameron accused the Labour leader of jumping on a bandwagon that had stopped moving.

“The minister in question has resigned. You are just a bit late,” said the PM, whose aides later made clear that Downing Street regarded the episode as over.

But Mr Miliband accused the Prime Minister of failing to ask Dr Fox the “tough questions” that would have exposed his links with Mr Werritty earlier. The Labour leader told MPs that yesterday’s report into the affair by Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell had left questions unanswered.

The report found that Dr Fox breached the ministerial code and ignored officials’ advice in allowing his friend to meet him a total of 40 times at Whitehall and on trips abroad.

Mr Miliband said: “We still don’t know the full facts about this case: about the money trail, about who exactly in the government met Mr Werritty.

“It is becoming clear that there is a network of individuals who funded Mr Werritty – some with close connections to the Conservative Party and other members of the Cabinet.

“Given he says he knew nothing about the arrangements of the former defence secretary, can [the Prime Minister] give a categorical guarantee that no other government minister has been engaging in such activities?”

DAVID MADDOX