Liam Fox, Secretary of State for Defence, accused for allowing a close friend, without any official position, to assist government meetings, expressed his “regret” about this affair, denying that he would have favored his friend or that he would have provided him intelligence, AFP notes.
He promised “to answer all questions” about the scandal, Monday before MPs.
50 years old, Liam Fox has been for a few days in the middle of a scandal because of his friendship with Adam Werritty, 34, his former co-tenant and witness at his wedding. The latter would have been wrongly presented as an advisor to the Minister and would have participated in an official visit to Sri Lanka.
The issue that has grown with successive revelations appeared in the press, led Prime Minister David Cameron Saturday, after declaring that he has full confidence in Liam Fox, to ask, however, the British Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell, to examine the results of a survey of the Ministry of Defense, opened in this case, and to present the findings on Monday.
In a statement Sunday night, Defense Minister said that he “apologized” to Prime Minister for this scandal. But “at no time, myself or the ministry that I lead have not provided any confidential information to Werrity and I have not helped his commercial activities”, he said.
“I admit that, given the activities of Werritty related to defense industry, my frequent meetings with him could give the impression that I made a mistake and could give the false impression that Werritty was an official counselor, and not just a friend. I learned my lesson for the future”, he said.
In connection with a meeting organized by Werritty in Dubai between the minister and defense industry representatives, Fox admitted that “he should not have met with a commercial supplier in the absence of any official person”.
The opposition asked Labour Minister Liam Fox to come on Monday to the of House of Commons to answer some questions about the scandal.