Fox under pressure

The Westminster Fox-hounds think they have picked up the scent this morning. Enemies of the Defence Secretary, of whom there are many, are convinced that they’ll be able to bring him to ground over his links to Adam Werrity.

Werrity was Fox’s best man and is a good friend of the Defence Secretary. But the problems stem from the fact that Werrity, who holds no official position, was dishing out cards saying he was an “adviser” to Fox, arranging meetings for him and attending diplomatically important events with the Defence Secretary.

Fox has tried to kill off this story by asking the permanent secretary to investigate whether he has breached the ministerial code. But friends of the defence secretary were alarmed by his performance on BBC Breakfast this morning (above) where he just kept repeating the same answer in response to four different questions (“I’ve asked the permanent secretary to look into that”) while looking deeply uncomfortable.