1056

THE WEEKLY WORLD EDITION OF The Daily Telegraph AND The Sunday Telegraph

October 19 - 25 2011 No. 1056

telegraph.co.uk/expat

The Telegraph

WALESOUT

Red card rage as last home nation exits WorldCup

:: SPORT PAGE 48

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Destruction of Gaddafi’s dream

IT WAS envisaged by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as a model African city for the modern world: an impressive panoply with university and hospitals, a glittering seafront and marble-lined

Continued on page 3

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By Robert Winnett Deputy Political Editor DR LIAM FOX resigned last week as it emerged that the Defence Secretary had asked a City financier to bankroll his unofficial adviser.

Dr Fox became the first Tory Cabinet minister in David Cameron’s government to stand down, after more than a week of revelations about his relationship with his best man, Adam Werritty.

The Defence Secretary announced that he was resigning after detailed disclosures showed Mr Werritty’s activities were funded by companies and individuals that potentially stood to benefit from government decisions.

Within an hour of Dr Fox stepping down, the venture capitalist Jon Moulton, who provided money for Mr Werritty, said the Defence Secretary had asked him to give cash to his friend’s firm.

It is understood that an investigation into Dr Fox’s dealings with Mr Werritty by Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, had concluded that his position was untenable.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Fox repeated his belief that he had “mistakenly allowed the distinction between my personal interest and my Government activities to become blurred”.

In an impromptu reshuffle, Mr Cameron replaced Dr Fox with Philip Hammond, who had been the Transport Secretary, and promoted

Justine Greening into the Cabinet to take Mr Hammond’s post.

Dr Fox is only the second senior member of the Government to resign since the election, and the first Conservative Cabinet minister. His resignation followed the disclosure that Mr Werritty’s company, Pargav, was funded by a private intelligence firm and the chairman of an Israeli lobbying company.

Mr Werritty was interviewed last Friday by Cabinet Office officials and is understood to have admitted that several other individuals and companies had provided money. One of the other backers was said to be a division of a major international bank. It also emerged that Dr Fox had personally asked potential donors to provide money for Mr Werritty’s company.

Mr Moulton, whose investment firm owns a company called Gardner UK, which makes military aircraft components, said in a statement: “After the election I was asked by Dr Fox to provide funds to a non-profit group called Pargav involved in security policy analysis and research. After obtaining written assurances as to its activities, I provided personal funding to Pargav. I will not be doing this again.”

Mr Moulton has twice donated £50,000 to Dr Fox’s office when he was shadow defence secretary.

Earlier last week, Dr Fox admitted that he had 22

meetings at the Ministry of Defence and 18 meetings abroad with Mr Werritty. The self-styled adviser was one of Dr Fox’s closest friends.

However, Mr Werritty was also receiving money from about five or six individuals and companies to fund his international travel to meet Dr Fox. Whitehall rules make clear that ministers must declare any potential conflict between their personal and professional lives.

The Daily Telegraph also disclosed that Dr Fox and Mr Werritty attended a dinner with defence lobbyists and senior US military figures that was not disclosed by the Ministry of Defence.

A week after that dinner in Washington DC, rules

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History test Magna Carta among posers for new citizens :: NEWS P6

‘I’M ON THE TRAIN’ Three day BlackBerry email service disruption rattles RIM

Report: Page 33