The Questions for Liam Fox
The fact David Cameron may not be Liam Fox’s biggest fan is probably the least relevant fact in this story. The Prime Minister will not want to lose a scalp, and will not want to lose somebody popular with vast numbers of party members and especially those MPs on the right of the party. Downing Street must be hoping tomorrow’s draft report has no other nasty surprises in it. But I rather suspect Liam Fox won’t be doing television interviews over the next few hours. He is facing the House of Commons, and no doubt discussing the situation with the Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister. Here are some of the questions the public might like the answers to.
1. In what way did you, in your words, allow “distinctions to be blurred between my professional responsibilities and my personal loyalties to a friend”?
2. Why did you claim in your spoken statement that no wrongdoing occurred when in your written one you accept it was wrong to hold meetings with possible defence contractors without officials present and involving Adam Werritty.
3. Why did you go to that meeting in Dubai with potential defence suppliers without officials and what did you discuss? Why didn’t you tell officials about it?
4. What was Adam Werritty’s role in these meetings? Was he ever paid by anyone involved?
5. When did you first know about Mr Werritty’s business cards describing himself as your adviser? When did you tell him to stop this?
6. Where and when have you met with Adam Werritty while travelling on official business?
7. Why did you stay in hotels rather than British embassy accommodation – which would be more secure? Did it have anything to do with meetings involving Adam Werritty?
8. Was Mr Werritty advising you during his visits to the Ministry of Defence or were you advising him or were they social visits?
9. You say you never provided Mr Werritty with classified information or briefings. Did you ever verbally discuss such secret information with him?
10. Do you think you have satisfied the test David Cameron set for ministerial standards in the foreward to the current Ministerial Code?
There are 21 comments on this post
Hope Number 10 doesn’t expect public to be taken in by Fox’s ‘sorry’ for ‘blurred distinctions’. It’ll be a nail in the coffin of what democracy we have if this smug arrogant elitist politician who seems to have a problem with the truth keeps his job after today.
would very much like to see a WHO KNOWS WHO page on Liam fox and Adam Weritty.
especially a more indepth look at their financial arrangements , properties, shares, interests in companies/corporations and any consultation fees they have recieved or any think tanks they may have been involved with.
parliament needs a very stiff broom AGAIN and any member should be under the same scrutiny.
With the Current Players and the Opposition, the ones at fault here are the Security Teams.
And if they don’t exist then it’s Time they did as every every M.P.including the Prime Minister should be Financially scrutinised on a regular Basis.
How about:-
11. Are deceit and pretence fundamental to your life?
12. Did you start to lose interest in your toyboy when his hairline began to recede?
13. How widespread in Westminster is the practice of gay male MPs having sham marriages for appearance sake?
The answer to Question 13 is “Many” – far more than most people imagine and at all levels of the group. And why only limit it to male MPs ?
I could name at least 6 without too much thought, I’m sure most readers here could too – and that’s 6 more than it should be.
The dishonesty is utterly demeaning, not only on those involved but to the paying public too. If we can’t expect personal honesty from our elected members, how can we expect them to act with integrity in their profession ?
The fact that Fox has tried to cling on as long as he has only exacerbates his position, trying to wriggle disreputably out of an irretrievably lost situation. The marks of his fingernails will be permanently scored along the walls of the MoD as they drag him out – but the sooner the better. I for one don’t want his kind anywhere near our levers of power ever again, especially those involving weaponry.
OK this might take more than Liam Fox to answer but I reckon that the public would really like to know how many more ministers work in tandem with free market freelancers. All the indignant expressions of support on the grounds that no serious ‘rules’ have been broken would suggest more than a few….
Someone needs to tell Liam Fox that saying you are sorry for ‘how things appeared’ and accepting responsibility for what was done is not the same as an apology for your actions.
He needs to say sorry for his stupid, arrogant abuse of his position and apologise to taxpayers for staying in hotels with Werrity at our expense when he could have been in official residences. Then he needs to do the honourable thing and resign.
I hope his wife, having now been publicly humiliated, has the wit to divorce him.
Questions also need to be put directly to Werrity.
Unfortunately I am not the least bit surprised at what Fox has done, which is a sad thing to say. His behaviour has come to be what I expect of politicians, regardless of their political leanings. Camerons defence of him will do the condems no favours, as when Fox goes, Camerons judgement will be called into question (yet again). It is unbelievable that a minister of the crown has almost monthly visits to his office by a friend, who he then invites to accompany him on official trips abroad and also invites him to attend offical meetings. There are so many questions that Fox should answer, which I won`t list as other posts have covered some of them on here already. the condems are going to try and kick this into the long grass in the hope that the public and media will lose interest in it, if we let it just fade away then we surely get the politicians we deserve. Interesting to note that the Chinese are looking approvingly at our political system and I believe we all know why, lack of accountability to an apathetic electorate
I suppose , even when fox goes to jail ,will he still get conjugal rights visits . Hey ! you couldn’t make it up . watch this space !
If i was in the British defence industry i would like my salesman to have the same right of access to Fox as Werritty.
If not then i would think Werritty was getting un unfair advantage.
Right or wrong people will think Werritty has influence.
If not from the Tory Party then i would think the defence industry has a right to complain.
This guy, a Minister should have known better, doesn’t say a lot for his integrity so he ought go and makes Cameron cleaning up politics weasel words, he should be given a lower grade job at the very least.
What is worrying is what else is lurking round the corner, that’s why I say Cameron reaction should be much stronger… I bet they were behind closed doors.
Why are you dismantling our defences while assisting others to build their’s.
you are out there selling Mass Murder to allow Wars to never end Globally, and digging us deeper into the Hole of Hate against us.
We are in line with France–and the U.S.A.for being the most despised Countries on Earth.
It’s not time to sell Arms, and it never is, but it is time we were prepared to defend ourselves
I can not believe the total absence of common sense in Mr Fox. He is serving the nation in a very public role and should understand that he is responsible for a very important part of our lives. No one of us would even dream of taking a friend to work even if it was to show him around, never mind bringing him to a work meeting! (imagine a nurse who comes to work with her flatmate?!)
Mr Fox – grow up please. Excusing yourself for a misjudgement? You are in government, not in a kindergarden.
I smell a tiger…going after the fox
answer to question 11
WITHOUT DOUBT THEY ARE FUNDAMENTAL
On Twitter today:
‘Tomorrow’s Global Handwashing Day (really: http://bit.ly/qMdqmN) so advise @Number10gov to wash byebye to @DefenceHQ’s boss’.
And while government ministers in spotlight, also from Twitter: http://yfrog.com/kj5jhkej
Oh, the imagination, freed from the shackles of convention, is a wonderful liberating thing. As Einstein said:
‘Nothing in the world makes people so afraid as the influence of the independent mind’.
Liam Fox should never have been offered that Post in the First Place. He should have been the Minister of Health,surrounded by People who have served the community in that Field most of their Working Lives.
The same should apply for the Ministry of Defence with a Retired General–Admiral– or Air Marshal being in Charge surrounded by Service Men and Women who have worked in the Defence Field most of their Lives.
The Way that they Position these Places to me has always been funny and would have expected the likes of Dave Allen to use it in some of his sketches. When Liam Fox spoke about a hate campaign against him it reminded me of the ”God Father” when he spoke of keeping your Enemies Close and Your Friends Closer. I would suspect that he look no further than Downing Street.
The only Position that they seem to have got right is the Minister for Sport who was successful and active in Sport.
There is one Question I would like to ask Liam and that is ”How could a one Time Man of Medicine turn Himself into a probable supporter of Genocide in his Arms Deals”?
It is reminiscent of the ” Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hide” Story.
Mr.Fox is being accused by some of being a Sexual Pervert this I find strange as there are many Men who live with there Life Long Friend for many Reasons one of course being that one or both of them have been thrown out their Homes by their Wives, indeed there was an American Comedy show on these Lines. One was thrown out because he was filthy and the other because he was the opposite that is too clean,but they were not Sexual Perverts.
One other thing Liam Fox’s Religion is 100% against Homosexuality. I believe that there is a lot of cruel speculation here which should be avoided as the Man has been Humiliated enough.
If any of the answers he gives is in the least way detrimental to the well being of the armed forces then he should be expelled from the party and tried for treason.
There are obviously many conflicts of interest in this situation. As always the struggle for power is a vital component.
Donors to Pargar include Jon Moulton and as far as I can gather several contacts with Sri Lanka and Israel to name a few. Several of these donors were supporters of Liam Fox and /or the Conservative party ,some before the election.
It is interesting that Werrity was on several occasions in conference with MI6 following visits to Iran particularly. I also understand that the Foreign Office are not keen on intervention by MI6
It will be interesting to ascertain the extent of the Pargar involvement in business that has materialised from this association. Werrity presumably had a lot of contacts. It is also interesting to surmise [as an outsider] whether the right wing position has been reinforced in this situation.
How many of these business contracts have been separate to MOD negotiations.In other words how much business has been generated by this association rather than by solely official channels. Politically the coalition and the opposition would not be strong on right wing positions.
There are so many facets to this situation and as always my conclusions are based on the differing biases of the media.
We need to know the business results , the effect on the deficit and whether the outcomes have upset the opposition by reinforcing the government’s position from a political perspective.
This is particularly relevant in the context of the Arab Spring and the considerations as to who should be armed. Right wing politics, the deficit and a multitude of other considerations including international perspectives need to be considered.