David Cameron asks Cabinet Secretary for report into Liam Fox allegations by Monday

By Matthew Barrett
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In a video made yesterday (and linked to here today), the Secretary of State for Defence, Liam Fox, responded to reports questioning the nature of his working relationship with former flatmate Adam Werritty. Fox said:

"When accusations get made, the appropriate thing is to investigate them properly, not ask the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defence to look into whether there has been any breach of security. I am absolutely sure there has not been, and whether there has been any breaching of the ministerial code I am very happy for the permanent secretary to look into that because I believe these allegations are baseless. I think that we need to let the permanent secretary do the appropriate work and I think to prejudice that in any way would be wrong."

This afternoon, the BBC reported that the Prime Minister has requested the initial findings of the Ministry of Defence inquiry into the Defence Secretary to be on his desk by Monday. He clearly wants to close the matter down swiftly rather than simply allow the media to run with it.

The inquiry was ordered by Fox on Friday, in order to ascertain whether his relationship with Werritty had breached the ministerial code. David Cameron has now asked the cabinet secretary to examine the report.