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Original poster

Anyone else eager to hear Liam Fox's statement to the House?

143 replies

limitedperiodonly · 10/10/2011 13:17

I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for it all and I look forward to hearing it at 2.30pm today.

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Original poster
limitedperiodonly · 10/10/2011 22:24

There's nothing distasteful about being gay.

It's a toss-up whether it's more distasteful to pose as a family kind of guy or to help your friend help himself to potentially lucrative contacts and in such an amateur-hourish fashion.

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pointydog · 10/10/2011 22:24

He's behaved like a prize twit. I'm surpised. He always seemed so rational.

ThreeTrickPony · 10/10/2011 22:25

Sorry, I am abroad and have missed the broad strokes story.
Now the are dozens of articles in the Grauniad in massive detail but what's the big picture?
Sorry.

edam · 10/10/2011 22:25

Katharine - you are very kind but I'm afraid there is rather a lot of information that does indeed suggest they are a bit more than just very good friends. None of which would matter had Fox kept his private life private and not involved his good friend in official business, had his friend not traded on his relationship with Fox, and not accompanied Fox on official business overseas.

KatharineClifton · 10/10/2011 22:26

'There's nothing distasteful about being gay.'

Nobody has said there is.

edam · 10/10/2011 22:27

Bet there's another email from William Hill in my work inbox offering shorter odds on Fox's resignation...

vigglewiggle · 10/10/2011 22:27

But KC, as Edam very eloquently points out, Liam Fox lost his right to privacy and invited speculation when he misused tax-layers money and misled the electorate by allowing his friend to take part in his parliamentary business with no authority to do so.

KatharineClifton · 10/10/2011 22:28

I don't doubt there has been financial dealings which are utterly dodgy. I don't doubt there are very few people at this level of politics/business who can claim to be squeaky clean. They pretty much all have their noses in the trough.

KatharineClifton · 10/10/2011 22:29

Who's being lined up to replace him, anyone know?

Original poster
limitedperiodonly · 10/10/2011 22:30

threetrickpony Lawyers for Liam Fox have indicated his intention to sue over assertions in The Guardian that he was involved in 'secretive' meetings.

So, not 'meetings' then... Grin

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MooncupGoddess · 10/10/2011 22:31

The sex thing is a bit of a sideshow, although it is interesting seeing the bigoted right-wingers turning on one of their own (see comments on Guido Fawkes' blog for some nasty homophobic sneers). If Liam Fox was just having gay sex outside his marriage (a la William Hague) it wouldn't be a concern in public interest terms, loads of MPs play away.

But it is just extraordinary that he has let Werrity get so involved in his ministerial life - the dodgy right-wing charity run from his office in the House of Commons with Werrity as sole employee, Werrity going on 18 of his business trips in just over a year, the dodgy business card, the free accommodation, the meetings with the Sri Lankan government. How on earth did Fox think he could get away with it? Was he blinded by lust or was there a money trail? Clearly there was something in all of this for Werrity, whose financial interests remain very opaque.

TheFallenMadonna · 10/10/2011 22:32

I don't think it's right, when someone has admitted to a massive misjudgement, to dismiss or diminish it by vaguely suggesting they are all at it. Rather unfair I think.

pointydog · 10/10/2011 22:32

What? William Hague?

KatharineClifton · 10/10/2011 22:33

I believe that almost of them are TheFallenMadonna. Greed rules on the whole.

Ponders · 10/10/2011 22:34

pointy, William Hague at one time regularly shared a hotel room with a young researcher

TheFallenMadonna · 10/10/2011 22:35

Well perhaps. But Liam Fox has admitted impropriety, and there is evidence for it. It diminishes that to suggest that everyone else is at it, with no such evidence.

pointydog · 10/10/2011 22:35

I should update my gossip knowledge. i am useless.

Ponders · 10/10/2011 22:36

\link{http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/01/william-hague-denies-gay-rumours\the young man resigned in Sept 2010}

Original poster
limitedperiodonly · 10/10/2011 22:37

Who's paying for Werrity to go on all these trips and how does he support himself?

It appears that his annual income is £20,000

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KatharineClifton · 10/10/2011 22:37

Perhaps it does TheFallenMadonna. I am obviously having a cynical day.

pointydog · 10/10/2011 22:39

Ah yes, I remember those photos now.

Original poster
limitedperiodonly · 10/10/2011 22:39

Fox says he doesn't know...

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MooncupGoddess · 10/10/2011 22:39

Indeed limitedperiod, that is the key question.

edam · 10/10/2011 22:44

His annual declared income may be £20k, the cost to the taxpayer is probably a darn sight more... and does Fox really think anyone's going to fall for 'I have no idea how my friend manages to afford all these flights to foreign countries where I just happen to have official meetings'?

Ponders · 10/10/2011 22:49

I just had a look at the Peter McKay column in the DM

'Werritty ? Fox?s best man when he married in 2005 ? could have access to defence secrets without having security clearance.
Why would he seek such access? It might serve his own business interests because he owns a defence consultancy firm, say critics. ( When Dr Fox was shadow minister for health, Werritty ran a health industry consultancy firm. )'

my italics there Hmm