British police and the Electoral Commission have been asked to investigation allegations that the former defence secretary Liam Fox and his adviser Adam Werritty failed to declare over £100,000 in donations from supporters.
A report from cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell into the affair that claimed Dr Fox’s career on Friday is due to be published in coming days, foreign secretary William Hague confirmed, perhaps as early as tomorrow.
Labour has asked the City of London police and the Electoral Commission to investigate whether Dr Fox broke declaration laws and whether the people who made donations to a company controlled by Mr Werritty were misled about how the money would be used.
Tougher laws governing the conduct of lobbyists may follow, Mr Hague hinted yesterday, saying it would be "important to take stock after (the O'Donnell report) about whether there are any wider implications".Later he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekendprogramme: "If there's action that has to be taken, the prime minister will want to take it. There are very legitimate questions about all these things."
Labour’s shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said: “It’s now clear that there are much wider issues at stake: access to money; access to influence; money off the books; undeclared influence. And I think what we need to do is follow the money trail and see where it leads.”
The donors to Mr Werritty are now furious at being dragged into a public furore. One of them, multi-millionaire venture capitalist Jon Moulton is reported to have contacted the cabinet secretary to complain that he had been misled by Dr Fox.
Mr Moulton said Dr Fox had asked him to donate to Pargav, a not-for-profit company set up by Mr Werritty offering “analysis” on the Anglo-American relationship and other issues, but he was not told that money would be used to pay for Mr Werritty’s travel bills.
Meanwhile, the Independent on Sundayreported that Mr Werritty had plotted with the Israeli intelligence service Mossad to topple Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with Mossad allegedly believing that he was Dr Fox's chief of staff. However, Mr Hague ridiculed the idea that Dr Fox had tried to run a parallel foreign policy, dismissing that suggestion as "a fanciful idea".
