Portrait of the Week – 22 October 2011

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After the resignation of Liam Fox as Defence Secretary, a report by Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, found that there had been a ‘clear breach’ of the ministerial code in his working relationship with Adam Werritty, who had accompanied him on 18 foreign trips. Dr Fox, he said, had been warned about Mr Werritty’s role, although Dr Fox had not benefited financially and Mr Werritty was not a lobbyist, he found. Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, replaced Dr Fox and Justine Greening replaced Mr Hammond. Canon Giles Fraser, the Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, requested police on its steps confronting anti-capitalist demonstrators to leave; about 150 tents were pitched around the cathedral. Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, said that, after the ‘utterly shocking’ riots of August, ‘severe sentences, intended to provide both punishment and deterrence, must follow — it is very simple’; he dismissed seven appeals, including two who planned a riot on Facebook.