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PM and Exec: And the Fantastic Mr. fox has fallen on his sword...
14th October 2011
‘The 11 Day Rule’ according to Alistair Campbell is that if a minister in under pressure and the story remains in the media for 11 days continuously that minister will go! And on the 11th Day Dr Fox the Defence Secretary is gone!
Philip Hammond has been confirmed as the new Defence Secretary, following Liam Fox’s resignation. In his resignation letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, Dr Fox said he had “mistakenly allowed the distinction between my personal interest and my government activities to become blurred, the consequences of this have become clearer in recent days”. More to follow in the press, but worth filing away as an example of why and when do ministers resign!
This morning Martin Kettle wrote in the Guardian that “Liam Fox ran a freelance international security policy. He will pay for it”; and went on to say:
The real threat to the government, the controversial rightwing unofficial adviser complained in his letter to the minister, was not his own advice but “the wall of officials” who were increasingly blocking his back-door access to the seat of power.
Whilst still on the topic of the Cabinet there is acerbic article by Kevin Maguire in the Daily Mirror entitled Oliver Letwin, Liam Fox and the boobies who star in Carry On Up Whitehall where he writes:
Pint-sized crank Oliver Letwin makes you wonder if Britain’s ruled by a Cabinet of weirdos.