Hard lessons

The continuing drip of allegations, combined with Bassetlaw MP John Mann’s attempt to ask police to investigate whether Adam Werritty has committed fraud, only emphasise the fact that Dr Fox had no alternative than to resign. The Government’s distraction by these matters was becoming acute and looks set to continue for some time.

The task for the Prime Minister now is to restore order and purpose to the Government and to show that he is shaping events rather than merely reacting to them. This requires not merely the installation of a safe pair of hands, in the form of Philip Hammond, at the Ministry of Defence. It also needs swift action to regulate the activities of lobbyists and special advisers.

Although the Coalition Agreement promised a statutory register of lobbyists, the Government has been dilatory in putting this into action. However, if the Liam Fox saga is not to be repeated with other Ministers, this has to change.

With lobbyists’ battling fiercely for access to Ministers, it is only a matter of time before another scandal of the type that engulfed Stephen Byers and Geoff Hoon during the last Labour government erupts.

Dr Fox may have handled the situation badly, but it was the system that allowed Mr Werritty to blur the roles of lobbyist and adviser and achieve such a stranglehold on the MoD and, unless clarity and transparency are brought to bear, it will happen again.