Werritty questioned again over Fox allegations
Adam Werritty, self-styled adviser to Defence Secretary Liam Fox, is being questioned for a second time amid confusion over whether Dr Fox declared attending a defence dinner in Washington.
Channel 4 News understands that Mr Werritty has been questioned away from Westminster on his part in the affair. He was also questioned on Tuesday under similar conditions when he gave a verbal account of his finances to civil servants.
Meanwhile it has been reported that the Liam Fox and Adam Werritty attended a $500-a-head dinner in Washington with senior figures from the defence industry which was not declared by the Ministry of Defence.
However in response to the allegations, the Ministry of Defence told Channel 4 News that details of the event had in error been left off a list sent to journalists.
The MoD said the list is a work in progress and pointed out that the original email stated “data collation is ongoing”.
The event in question was a fundraising dinner in aid of the US arm of Mr Werritty’s Atlantic Bridge charity which is one of the organisations which has been at the centre of allegations about the defence secretary’s conduct.
Investigation
Meanwhile, the hundreds of meetings in Dr Fox’s diary are being pored over by his permanent secretary, Ursula Brennan, and Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell in a bid to establish whether or not any impropriety has been committed.
The focus of the investigation is the ministerial code and if Dr Fox has breached it in his dealings with Mr Werritty. In the commons on Wednesday Dr Fox’s Labour opposite number, Jim Murphy, cited several parts of the code which he said the defence secretary may have contravened.
There is no indication of when Sir Gus’s report will be published, though Channel 4 News Political Editor Gary Gibbon has said his appointment to the task suggests it is clear the government wants it to be completed quickly.