Fox to address MPs after report

18 October 2011 Last updated at 22:18 ET

The report found Mr Fox did not “live up to the standards” expected of ministers

Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox is expected to make a statement to MPs later after a report found he had broken ministerial rules over his links with his close friend Adam Werritty.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell’s report said there had been a “failure of judgement”, for which Mr Fox took ultimate responsibility.

The issue is also expected to be raised at prime minister’s questions.

Labour says “big questions” remain unanswered about the controversy.

The opposition wants the government to publish details of all the meetings Mr Werritty had with government ministers outside of the Ministry of Defence and are pressing the prime minister to say what he knew about Mr Werritty’s business activities and donations solicited by Mr Werritty and Mr Fox.

Mr Fox resigned from the government on Friday, saying he had allowed his personal loyalties and professional responsibilities to become “blurred” over his dealings with Mr Werritty, his former flatmate and self-styled adviser.

Sir Gus’s report, published on Tuesday, said Mr Fox had been warned about his working relationship with Mr Werritty by both his private office and permanent secretary but decided it was acceptable and should continue.

The report said there had been a “clear breach” of the ministerial code on conflicts of interest but the former defence secretary did not benefit financially nor was national security compromised.

Despite having no role in the government nor the Conservative Party, Mr Werritty met up with Mr Fox on 18 overseas trips, attended a number of important meetings with him, and had carried cards describing himself as his adviser.

The report found Mr Werritty had had “inappropriate” access to Mr Fox’s diary – posing a “degree of security risk” to Mr Fox and any officials accompanying him.

It also concluded that the former cabinet minister should have declared to officials that donors who had provided funding to him when the Conservatives had been in opposition also gave money to Mr Werritty’s firm Pargav.

Leader of the House of Commons, Sir George ng, who will give the government’s official response to the report on Wednesday, said it was “quite clear what went wrong”.

“Warnings were given to Mr Fox by his department and he chose to ignore them and nothing happened,” he told Channel 4 News.

“One of the key recommendations by the cabinet secretary was that should that ever occur again, it should be escalated, firstly to the cabinet secretary and ultimately to the prime minister.”

Asked whether the report’s findings ruled out a return to office for Mr Fox, Sir George said such considerations were “way beyond my pay grade” but he hoped the Conservatives could “harness his (Mr Fox’s) talents and energies in some way”.

BBC deputy political editor James Landale said MPs believed the criticism in the report ruled out any early return to government.

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