Fox’s Sri Lanka visit ‘postponed’

Gary Gibbon has just reported that Liam Fox’s visit to Sri Lanka has been ‘postponed’. His private visit this year has been replaced by the promise of an official visit next year.

It was never really tenable that a Cabinet Minister could visit a foreign country to deliver a speech while claiming that the visit was private. William Hague has apparently now persuaded the Defence Secretary of this without damaging the relationship between the two men.

When Fox does go to Sri Lanka, it’ll be fascinating to see what he says. Friends of Fox say that he really does believe that the Sri Lankan government’s actions have been justified. But if Fox were too say that on an official visit, that would undoubtedly cause controversy back home.