Adam Werritty

Adam Werritty (born in Kirkcaldy, Fife) is a close friend, business associate, and self-styled advisor of the current Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox. He is a former flatmate of Fox's and was best man at his wedding in 2005. Werritty and Fox were joint investors in the healthcare consultancy firm UK Health, and Werritty was appointed by Fox as the chief executive of the now disbanded charity The Atlantic Bridge. Werritty accompanied Fox on foreign business trips to Sri Lanka and Dubai in 2011, Israel in 2009, and in 2007, when Fox was then shadow Defence Secretary, they both attended a meeting with the Gulf Research Centre. The uncertain nature of Werritty's business relationship with Fox lead to an investigation by the MoD's Permanent Secretary, Ursula Brennan.

The Prime Minister David Cameron has asked the Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell for the initial report of the MOD internal inquiry to be on his desk by Monday morning.

Personal Life

Werritty lives near Vauxhall Bridge, close to Parliament. His father Alan Werritty, born 1944 or 1945 [tbc], is a geography professor at the University of Dundee who lives with his wife Irene in St Andrews, Fife.

Adam Werritty's friendship with Liam Fox began in the late 1990s, when Fox was an Opposition Front Bench Spokesman on Scotland & Constitutional Affairs and when Werritty was studying public policy at Edinburgh University. They had a shared interest in politics and the United States.

After graduating with 2:2, Werritty left Scotland to start his own healthcare company, PPP. He lived in several places in London and stayed rent-free between 2002 and 2003 in Fox's flat in Southwark near Tower Bridge. Werritty was Fox's best man at his wedding in 2005.

In 2011, Werritty stayed with Fox at a villa in Spain during an August holiday break at the climax of the 2011 Libyan civil war.

Ties to Liam Fox

Werritty has received attention in the media for having close personal and business ties to Liam Fox. He lived in Fox's apartment in Southwark, London, between 2002 and 2003 and was also given the role of best man at his wedding 2005. The property in question, where Werrity stayed rent free, was mortgaged at £1400 per month and covered by Fox's Additional Costs Allowance (ACA), part of his MP's expenses.

According to reports, Werritty has also distributed business cards that characterised him as an "adviser to the Rt Hon Dr Fox MP" despite being warned not to do so. Werritty has also made visits to the defence secretary at the MoD's HQ in Whitehall on 14 occasions in little over a year which lead the Labour Party to request an inquiry into a possible national security breach. A further matter relates to the fact that Werritty, in his capacity as advisor to Fox, was able to arrange access to the minister for private sector companies on matters where they could both see commercial gains, this despite denials of him having any role as an advisor.

Advisory role

In April 2007 and Werritty and Fox attended an official meeting with the Gulf Research Centre, an independently run body that conducts research on issues concerning the Middle East issues. The pair also attended an Israeli security conference centred on relations with Palestine and that took place in Herzliya in 2009. Werritty is listed in conference proceedings as an adviser to Fox.

In June 2011 Werritty organised a business meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai between Fox and a company hoping to sell voice encryption software to the British MoD. According to the Guardian details relating to the nature of the visit and the business matters discussed suggest that it was "highly irregular." The meeting was attended by Werritty, Fox, the British private equity boss and CEO of the Porton Group Harvey Boulter, and two other Dubai-based businessmen. The MoD has stated that there were no officials present at the meeting but that one of the attendees claims to have received the impression that all of those in attendance had been security cleared. But, Werritty did not have such clearance. Werritty was contacted by a lobbying firm known as Tetra Strategy on behalf of Boulton in an attempt to have Fox intervene in a legal dispute between Porton Group and the MoD. This initial meeting with Werritty lead to discussions with Fox in Dubai regarding the sale of a product called Cellcrypt to the MoD.

Owing to the nature of his close relationship with Mr. Fox, questions have been raised about the appropriateness of Werritty accompanying Fox on government trips abroad. Fox had previously claimed that Werritty had never joined him on such trips but The Guardian reported on October 10, 2011 that the "self-styled adviser" met senior Sri Lankan ministers on an official visit in summer 2011. The Sri Lankan trip was originally scheduled for December 2010 but a disagreement with the foreign secretary, William Hague, saw the visit changed to July despite allegations that the Sri Lankan government supported paramilitary groups in defeating the Tamil Tigers.

The Atlantic Bridge

Werritty was also responsible for operating a charity known as The Atlantic Bridge out of Fox's office at tax payers expense. The rightwing charity works in conjunction with a major US business lobby group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), a major US lobbying organisation for corporations such as Philip Morris, Texaco and Mc Donalds. According to US charity records Werritty is listed as the UK executive director with an address corresponding to Fox's former room at the House of Commons. He operated the organisation from Fox's room, No. 341 in the MPs' block at Portcullis House, and it served as the charity's official headquarters. The Guardian reported that between 2007 and 2010, Werritty's income as chief executive of The Atlantic Bridge was in excess of £90,000. The charity was established by Fox to help US/UK relations and serve as a reminder of the Reagan-Thatcher era and Werritty was given a lead role. The charity also functioned as a counterpart to the Alec-founded Atlantic Bridge Group, a sister organisation in America. Following criticism by regulators that the charity was too politically oriented to be eligible for charitable status, the UK wing disbanded in September 2011.

The Atlantic Bridge US group now disassociates itself with its former UK colleagues.