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Downing Street has revealed that two junior defence ministers, Gerald Howarth and Lord Astor of Hever, met Adam Werritty, in addition to his frequent meetings with Liam Fox.
As the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, demanded a government statement on the report by Sir Gus O’Donnell, which will be published on Tuesday after, No 10 said it was planning to respond to the findings only in a written statement.
The cabinet secretary is expected to find that Fox, who resigned as defence secretary on Friday, breached the ministerial code over his links with his close friend Werritty, who was best man at his wedding. But O’Donnell is not expected to find that Fox benefited financially.
Miliband is demanding that a minister should appear at the Commons despatch box on Tuesday to brief MPs on the report. John Bercow, the Speaker, is considering his request for a urgent question after Downing Street said it had no plans for a statement.
The prime minister’s spokesman said: “We will provide some comment on the report once we have published it. I don’t think there is a statement planned. There may be an urgent question and we would no doubt respond to that if the Speaker decides to accept it.”
Downing Street also gave the first official confirmation of the contents of the report when it said that a trawl of ministerial contacts showed that Howarth and Astor met Werritty. Astor was on the advisory board of the defunct Atlantic Bridge charity, established by Fox to promote transatlantic relations. Howarth is an Atlanticist on the right of the Tory party.
The spokesman said the prime minister only became aware of Werritty’s name 10 days ago, though No 10 indicated that David Cameron may have attended Fox’s wedding where Werritty was best man.
“The FCO [Foreign Office] have no records of any ministerial meetings with Adam Werritty since the election … We have no record of him attending any meetings in Downing Street. Adam Werritty clearly did go into the Ministry of Defence on a number of occasions. He may have met Lord Astor and Gerald Howarth.”
Downing Street said Cameron had no recollection of having met Werritty.
The spokesman said: “The prime minister has no recollection of ever meeting this person, was not aware of his name until he became talked about quite a lot by the media a couple of weeks ago. He wasn’t really aware of this person’s name until he was all over the newspapers about 10 days ago.”
Asked whether Cameron attended Fox’s wedding, the spokesman said: “I think he did. I don’t know. I would have to go and check that. The point is the prime minister meets lots of people. The question is has he had a meeting with them and does he remember meeting them?
“He has no recollection of meeting this person and had not registered his name until about 10 days ago when it started appearing in the press.”
Downing Street makes admission as Ed Miliband demands government briefs MPs on O’Donnell report into Liam Fox affair
