With each day, a new player stepped into the Fox drama

Jane Merrick
Sunday 16 October 2011 00:00 BST
Comments

Wednesday 5 Oct

On the day of David Cameron's closing speech to his party conference, The Guardian publishes a story revealing that Adam Werritty, Liam Fox's best man, has visited the Defence Secretary 14 times in the past 16 months. Earlier this year it emerged that Werritty had been present at talks Fox held with a businessman, Harvey Boulter, in Dubai in June.

Thursday 6 Oct

Fox asks Ursula Brennan, permanent secretary at the MoD, to conduct an inquiry into his dealings with Adam Werritty. Inside the MoD, alarm was growing because the contact was more extensive than had been admitted in public, especially as Werritty had business cards describing him as an adviser to Fox.

Friday 7 Oct

Pictures emerge showing that Werritty joined Fox on a visit to Sri Lanka when the Defence Secretary met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, despite Werritty having no official role. We now know that Werritty and Fox were involved in setting up the Sri Lankan Development Trust, which was created to carry out post-conflict work but may have only been used to fund Fox's trip to the country.

Saturday 8 Oct

Cameron asks the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, to oversee Brennan's inquiry and says he wants an interim report on his desk by Monday morning. At the same time, No 10 launches a political operation to show Fox is a valued cabinet member, in an attempt to reassure his supporters on the right that there will be no witch-hunt.

Sunday 9 Oct

More revelations about Fox, with MoD sources telling The IoS that the inquiry is focusing on several business deals and talks that Werritty has been involved in beyond the Dubai and Sri Lanka meetings. Fox says there is a "deeply suspect" motivation behind allegations against him.

Monday 10 Oct

Fox apologises to the Commons for "blurring the lines" but says Werritty was "not dependent on any transactional behaviour to maintain his income". But No 10 says the Defence Secretary has made "serious mistakes". The MoD publishes a list of 18 foreign trips Fox made where Werritty was present, and a further 22 meetings at the MoD.

Tuesday 11 Oct

The BBC reports that Werritty was being funded by a string of private donors. Michael Hintze, the hedge fund manager who donated £1.5m to the Tories, gave Werritty free office space at his London headquarters.

Wednesday 12 Oct

Another donor to Werritty is Poju Zabludowicz, the London-based Finnish billionaire and chairman of Israeli lobbying firm Bicom, who has donated £115,000 to the Conservative Party in the past three years. It is not yet clear in what capacity Zabludowicz has assisted Werritty.

Thursday 13 Oct

Fox is said to be furious at an anonymous briefing by "friends" of the Defence Secretary who have described Werritty as a "Walter Mitty" figure, in an apparent attempt to distance the MP from his best man. A third donor who indirectly helped fund Werritty's luxury travel is South African-born tycoon Michael Lewis, who backed Fox's 2005 leadership campaign.

Friday 14 Oct

The Times publishes bank account details of a fund, Pargav, that Werritty used to pay for his international travel to be at meetings with Fox. Zabludowicz, Lewis and venture capitalist Jon Moulton are revealed to have paid into Pargav – though they insist they believed it was to fund peace initiatives and development. The perception of a slush fund to pay for Fox's close aide appears to be the tipping point, and the Defence Secretary resigns.

Saturday 15 Oct

It emerges that Moulton had agreed to pay £35,000 into Pargav after Fox solicited the donation. It is also disclosed that Lord (Tim) Bell, the PR chief and a former aide to Lady Thatcher, played a part in the Pargav transactions being released to The Times.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in