Defence secretary left with questions to answer over nature of meeting in Dubai with investment fund manager
Liam Fox‘s political hero, Margaret Thatcher, was famous for her loathing of the U-turn, but the defence secretary’s public handling of mounting questions concerning his relationship with close friend, former flatmate, best man and political ally Adam Werritty, has been littered with embarrassing corrections and clarifications that have left his position in doubt.
On 12 June, Fox may well have glossed over a small report in the Observer concerning a £41m-plus legal claim being brought in America against the US conglomerate 3M over alleged failure to develop and commercialise a technology invented by Ministry of Defence scientists for detecting the superbug MRSA.
Fox, at that time, was still smarting from the leak of a confidential letter to the prime minister, published weeks earlier in the Times, which appeared to challenge government plans to set in stone a promise to meet UN targets of overseas aid. It was the second letter from him to be leaked in as many years and had provoked open irritation in No 10 and the Foreign Office.
Fox retaliated by letting it be known he believed one of his cabinet colleagues may have been the source of the leak.
This spat had only just subsided when the Guardian and Observer reporter Rupert Neate, who had written the original 3M article, learned that the American group, best known as the manufacturer of Post-it notes, was pursuing a counter-claim containing sensational blackmail allegations which, if true, purported to have been made following a meeting at which Fox been present.
Neate immediately began contacting Fox’s office with questions concerning allegations that Fox had held a meeting in Dubai to discuss the 3M litigation with Harvey Boulter, the chief executive of Porton Capital, an investment fund that had collaborated with the MoD on the MRSA technology before it was sold to 3M. Porton and the MoD’s civilian research arm, Ploughshare Innovations, were parties behind the claim against 3M.
What did they discuss? Had Boulter been sanctioned to send what appeared to be a threatening email to 3M’s British born chief executive, Sir George Buckley, in which he awkwardly hinted that Buckley’s recently awarded knighthood might be reviewed by the British cabinet?
A response came from the MoD press office: "Dr Fox met with Mr Boulter to discuss an entirely different matter. At no point did he enter into any discussion about this legal case, nor was there any mention of anyone’s knighthood."
The denial was emphatic. Fox clearly believed he was drawing a line under the matter. However, the Guardian was able to obtain statements from two witnesses who confirmed that they had heard the 3M case being discussed at the five-star Shangri-La hotel in Dubai. According to one, Boulter had updated Fox on progress in the 3M legal claim, to which the defence secretary allegedly replied: "I’m sure you’re handling this [the case] in the best way possible."
It was evidence that provoked first of several embarrassing U-turns by Fox. The MoD issued another statement: "During their meeting Mr Boulter disclosed his involvement in a legal case as a matter of propriety, but Dr Fox did not enter into a discussion about this in any respect and at no point raised or discussed the issue of a knighthood."
At the same time questions were arising about how official the Dubai meeting had been. The evidence suggested that Fox’s friend of 14 years, Adam Werritty, who had no official function in government, appeared to play a central role in brokering the meeting with Boulter, and was there in person . Emails between the Porton Capital boss and Fox’s friend showed they had been meeting and corresponding on the subject of the 3M claim as far back as March.
Who exactly was Werritty? At first, the MoD simply said: "Adam Werritty is not an MoD employee." Two weeks later, on 17 August, the department added: "He is a friend of the secretary of state," adding that the MoD covers the costs of trips taken by only employees.
The department’s responses on the subject of Werritty then quickly descended into the realms of the absurd, with statements such as: "As he is not an MoD employee, he has not been on any official MoD visits with the defence secretary." This was another statement – repeated almost verbatim in a written answer from Fox given in the House of Commons – that would not stand up to scrutiny.
Sri Lankan news footage, posted on the Guardian’s website this weekend, clearly showed Werritty shaking the hand of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at a meeting between the Sri Lankan leader and Fox last December. While in opposition, there had been previous overseas trips by Fox – to Israel and Sri Lanka – where Werritty had also been present.
Before these facts had fully emerged, however, questions about the relationship between Fox and Werritty were repeatedly batted away by an MoD press officer. "I am afraid my answers are going to be rather disappointing since Adam is not an MoD employee … If you need anything else in relation to Adam, I am not sure that I will be able to help."
The next piece of evidence unearthed would again force Fox to change his story. The Guardian was shown a business card used by Werritty, embossed with parliament’s portcullis logo, on which he described himself as "adviser to Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP". It later emerged that Ursula Brennan, MoD permanent secretary, told Fox to stop him handing out the cards.
Last Thursday, Fox asked Brennan to launch an investigation into what he called "wild allegations". The defence secretary said: "I understand those cards are no longer used. I have made it very clear to him that it’s unacceptable to carry a card saying that he is a personal adviser." The MoD said Brennan would "examine the access to departmental premises and information afforded to Mr Werritty, and establish that there has been no breach of security".
Over the weekend, as the political heat has been turned up, a flurry of comments from the embattled defence secretary have not all helped to clarify matters.
On Sunday night, however, he issued his most extensive statement, promising to take questions in parliament on Monday. "I do accept that, given Mr Werritty’s defence-related business interests, my frequent contacts with him may have given an impression of wrongdoing, and may also have given third parties the misleading impression that Mr Werritty was an official adviser rather than simply a friend.
"With respect to my meeting with Mr Boulter in Dubai in June 2011, I accept that it was wrong to meet with a commercial supplier without the presence of an official. I have apologised to the prime minister and agreed with my permanent secretary to put in place new procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."
How Fox changed his tune
On the meeting in Dubai …
24 June The MoD press office says: "Dr Fox met with Mr Boulter to discuss an entirely different matter. At no point did he enter into any discussion about this legal case."
17 August The MoD says: "During their meeting Mr Boulter disclosed his involvement in a legal matter of propriety but Dr Fox did not enter into a discussion about this in any respect."
8 October Fox tells the BBC: "Actually, the defence industry representatives asked for it [the meeting] when they happened to be sitting at a nearby table at a restaurant. So, it’s not that unusual." Seven hours later a Fox spokesman says: "Dr Fox was referring to Mr Werritty, and not himself, bumping into Mr Boulter at a restaurant prior to the meeting on 17 June."
9 October Fox issues a statement: "With respect to my meeting with Mr Boulter in Dubai in June 2011, I accept that it was wrong to meet with a commercial supplier, without the presence of an official."
On the status of Adam Werritty …
August email to the Guardian: "Adam Werritty is not an MoD employee. He is a friend of the secretary of state."
6 October Fox says: "I have made it very clear to him [Werritty] that it’s unacceptable to carry a card saying that he is a personal adviser."
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