Sure enough, if you read the papers and listened to the News, you would indeed have thought the pack of hounds was on the loose and sniffing their inexorable way towards 'Tally Ho' Fox.
Had he broken cover, I wondered? Would the hounds start to 'give tongue'? So, I turned to my old stalwart, The Daily Telegraph. I was not disappointed - there were stories aplenty about the 'hunt'!
For a start, there was 'The case for Liam Fox's resignation' written by John McTernan. In his blog, he criticised 'Tally Ho' Fox for giving so much of his valuable time to a 'friend'. McTernan maintains that a Cabinet Minister's time is precious and carefully guarded by his civil servants. This is particularly the case for the Secretary of State for Defence, at a time when the UK's armed forces are deployed in several theatres of combat.
McTernan wrote:
We now know that Liam Fox prioritised one thing above all others. Not the safety of our forces or the security of the nation, but whatever his mate wanted to talk about or whoever he wanted him to meet. And it wasn't a one-off, it's a sustained course of behaviour.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/johnmcternan1/100109739/the-case-for-liam-foxs-resignation/
However - there were more articles - take this one:
Defence Secretary Liam Fox used expenses to pay his best man Adam Werritty
Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, put a close friend with “defence-related business interests” on the public payroll, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
It was written by James Kirkup, Holly Watt and Dean Nelson
Adam Werritty, whose relationship with Dr Fox threatens the minister's career, was paid with taxpayers' money as a parliamentary researcher.
This newspaper has also learnt that Mr Werritty, who holds no official government role, acted as Dr Fox's personal envoy to Sri Lanka, arranging his meetings with senior ministers.
The article also included the following:
Yet financial records seen by The Daily Telegraph show an economic relationship between the two friends.
The papers disclose that in 2005/06, Dr Fox's Commons office budgeted for a £690 National Insurance payment relating to Mr Werritty's employment.
The payment suggests that he had been employed by Dr Fox in the previous year. At the time, Mr Werritty was the director of a company called UK Health. Since Mr Werritty has never been issued with a House of Commons security pass, the payment will raise questions about what work he was doing for the MP's office
The article gave details of meetings arranged by Mr Werritty and various people's responses to the revelations. It concluded in the following way:
John Mann, the Labour backbencher who referred Dr Fox's expenses claims to the Commons commissioner, repeated calls for the minister to quit.
But Mark Pritchard, secretary of the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee, said: "From the backbenchers I have spoken with, on both the Left and Right of the party, the Defence Secretary still has a huge amount of support."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/conservative-mps-expenses/8817286/Defence-Secretary-Liam-Fox-used-expenses-to-pay-his-best-man-Adam-Werritty.html
In the same paper online, there was a live blog detailing how the day panned out for 'Tally Ho' Fox. It was written and updated by Josie Ensor. It was informative and well worth reading - and watching the videos.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8817597/Liam-Fiox-and-Adam-Werritty-live-blog.html
So - at the end of that eventful day - how did the hunted Fox do?
There was an analysis in yesterday's Guardian in an article entitled, Liam Fox battles to save career as PM gives only conditional support: Sir Gus O' Donnell steps up inquiry as Fox admits 'mistakes' and more detail is revealed about relationship with Adam Werritty by Patrick Wintour and Rupert Neate.
In this they quoted from a statement issued by No 10:
"It is clear, as Liam Fox himself said , that serious mistakes were made in allowing the distinction between professional responsibilities and personal loyalties to be blurred – and this has clearly raised concerns about impropriety and potential conflicts of interest."
Now Sir Gus O'Donnell, according to the Guardian :
launched a full inquiry into Fox's intricate links with his friend Adam Werritty, including whether he was profiting from the privileged access Fox gave him to his thinking and his ministerial diary.
Now - today - I was told by Arturo that GOD is to step down! I blinked hard and whispered: "If GOD is to step down, then it's the end of the world!"
Arturo looked at me as if I had crawled out of the gutter: "Not GOD as in God! Don't you know anything?" He shook his head. "It's GOD as in Sir Gus O'Donnell. Don't you know anything?"
I went away to ponder this news. Why was he doing this? Sir Gus O'Donnell has only just been asked to look into the 'Tally Ho' Fox business. He knows all the whys and wherefores of everything that goes on at No 10.
That's it! I thought to myself - maybe he doesn't want to know anymore! There's been too much to know!
Read the Westminster Blog to get the full facts about what is going on: http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2011/10/sir-guss-job-is-split-into-three-as-he-announces-retirement/#ixzz1aU6TgQnH
There are to be three new posts once Sir Gus has gone:
** Jeremy Heywood, who is now Permanent Secretary at No. 10, will become Cabinet Secretary.
** Ian Watmore will become the permanent secretary to the Cabinet Office.
** ??? Head of the Civil Service ??? No one has yet been appointed.
So it seems, the position of Head of the Civil Service will be separated out from the Cabinet Secretary role. GOD did both jobs, as only GOD could!
Being a mere cat - and an under stairs cat, at that - I've given up on all the machinations that are going on here! They are coming hot and fast too! That reminds me - time for dinner!
'Bye'
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