Dr Liam Fox

The Committee considered a memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards reporting on his consideration of complaints against Dr Liam Fox made by Mr John Mann. These complaints were that Dr Fox had permitted his friend Adam Werritty to stay rent-free in accommodation funded by the Additional Costs Allowance; Adam Werritty reportedly ran a business from that address in 2002-03; Mr Werritty had been "allowed to run an organisation called The Atlantic Bridge from Liam Fox's Parliamentary Offices.The Committee recommended that Dr Fox repay 3,000 pounds to cover the period in which his friend was staying in his ACA funded accommodation after the revised Green Book had put the rules beyond doubt. It also recommended that Dr Fox apologise in writing for his breaches of the rules in permitting his friend to use his ACA funded flat for a year and in permitting The Atlantic Bridge to use his Parliamentary offices. The Committee would have proposed a heavier penalty if Dr Fox had not raised the use of his office with the House Authorities.

New ideas, new interconnections, new problems. Liam Fox analyses crucial world issues. The world has changed more and faster than any of us could have imagined. While that may be accepted in terms of global business and financial markets, and to some degree the worldwide web, people including their political leaders may have been slower at grasping what these new interconnections mean for the way we operate in this new era. Liam Fox begins by questioning what decision-makers fear as the threats to world stability and peace, and draws on his own experience to illuminate world events, past and present. In conversation with those responsible for keeping the world afloat - such as Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, Malcolm Rifkind and Donald Rumsfeld - he examines both triumph and disaster and explains how to meet the challenge of the new global reality.

Following Russia's aggressive war in Ukraine, the world is suddenly gripped by concerns over energy security. And yet, there is an even greater threat ahead - one that is even more likely to shape the events of the twenty-first century than the competition for oil or gas. The combination of an ever-increasing global population, climate change, industrialisation, urbanisation and limited natural resources, means that one challenge, above all, will shape the political, economic and security environment in the years ahead. That challenge is water. If people and nations will fight for fossil fuels, it is nothing compared to what they will do for the most vital natural resource of all. As a doctor, a politician who has dealt with both security and economic issues and a concerned citizen who has worked with WaterAid, Liam Fox tells the story of water and the challenges it presents in a more complete way than ever before. The Coming Storm links together a range of issues that are often written about separately, but seldom together, and issues a comprehensible and compelling call for urgent action.

Cases & Materials on Constitutional & Administrative Law provides an essential collection of key primary and secondary materials with incisive commentary from the authors.

In this report the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) considers the role of the independent adviser on ministers' interests and concludes that role is not independent in any meaningful sense. The adviser on Ministers' interests advises Ministers on compliance with the Ministerial Code and carries out investigations of alleged breaches of the Code when requested by the Prime Minister. The report highlights the lack of independence in three areas: the role: the independent adviser lacks independence in practice, as he is appointed personally by the Prime Minister, is supported from within the Cabinet Office, and cannot instigate his own investigations; the appointment process: the closed process by which the adviser is appointed is not suitable for an 'independent' role; the choice of candidate: the choice of a recently retired senior civil servant, Sir Alex Allan, is not a suitable choice for a role which requires demonstrable independence from Government. PASC started the investigation after recent resignation of the former Secretary of State for Defence, the Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox: regrettably the then independent adviser Sir Philip Mawer was not consulted in the course of the events leading up to the resignation of Liam Fox. The retirement of Sir Philip shortly after the resignation of Dr Fox provided an opportunity to demonstrate the value the Prime Minister places on having complaints against Ministers investigated in a demonstrably independent way, but this opportunity was missed and the appointment of Sir Alex only became public knowledge after the event.

This report looks at operations in Afghanistan since 2006 and makes further recommendations for the anticipated draw-down of forces. UK Forces were deployed in Helmand Province in Afghanistan for three years from 2006 without the necessary personnel, equipment or intelligence to succeed in their mission. Mistakes were made as a result of a failure in military and political coordination. The decision to move UK Armed Forces into the South of Afghanistan in early 2006 was not fully thought through. The Committee is concerned that the MoD did not anticipate that the presence of the Armed Forces in Helmand might stir up a hornets' nest, especially as much of the intelligence was contradictory. Senior military advisers should have drawn attention to the need for force levels to be sufficiently robust to cope with an unpredictable conflict. The Committee is disturbed that the Secretary of State was told that commanders on the ground were content with the support they were being given in Helmand when clearly they were not. After only a matter of months in Helmand, the nature of the UK Mission changed, with serious strategic implications. The MoD did not respond quickly enough to changes in Taliban tactics. The MoD should prioritise the protection of personnel. The Government's room for manoeuvre regarding the number of troops that could be withdrawn from Afghanistan as part of an immediate transition is necessarily limited. More emphasis needs to be placed on capacity building within the political system if long-term success is to be achieved.

Amusing, revealing, sympathetic and occasionally antagonistic, these observations combine to give a unique portrait of the political and personal life

The first full-length exposition of what it terms a global city-global risks nexus, this volume crosses disciplinary boundaries to draw upon research from Security Studies; Geography; Sociology; and Urban Studies. Innovative in its approach integrating theories about Global Cities with those positing a Global Risk Society, Yee-Kuang Heng positions this research in the midst of two concurrent global trends that will gain more significance in coming years. The world is experiencing the consequences of not only rapid globalisation, but also urbanization. In 2008, the UN declared that more than half the world’s population was now urban. At the same time, highly connected global cities like New York, London, Tokyo and Singapore also face rapidly spreading global risks such as pandemics and financial crises. Unique in developing a typology of global risks that threaten a global city like Singapore, beyond its Asian focus, the book also draws out thematic and policy lessons pertinent to other global cities. ’Global cities’ do not simply materialize. They are dependent on a range of stakeholders at various levels that produce and re-produce its command and control capabilities, in the face of global risks. Singapore’s experiences managing global risks in the financial; aviation; and maritime domains are common concerns shared by many countries and cities that have, or aspire to develop, similar critical infrastructure.