Resignation of UK defense secretary reveals links between ministers and military firms

In the wake of the resignation of Liam Fox, every effort has been made to bury the full import of the scandal surrounding the Conservative defence secretary and his close friend, Adam Werritty. - Fox was forced to resign on the eve of a report by Sir Gus O’Donnell, Britain’s highest-ranking civil servant, which found him guilty of “an inappropriate blurring of lines between official and personal relationships.” This consisted of numerous occasions in which Werritty participated with Fox in discussions with leading international officials and others with defence interests, despite having no security clearance. The scandal has [...] escalated, with accusations that Fox was “running a shadow foreign policy” and selling out Britain’s defence industry to the US. The government is pressing ahead with thousands of job losses in the armed forces as part of its spending cuts, and last year Fox warned British manufacturers that the MoD would source equipment from overseas suppliers unless they offered “better value for money”.