ONE of Defence Secretary Liam Fox's junior ministers has been urged to come clean about his links to the controversial lobbyist Adam Werritty.
Labour made the call after it emerged the Tory peer Lord Astor of Hever had met Mr Werritty, whose links to Dr Fox have left him increasingly under fire.
The Lords defence spokesman is believed to have met Mr Werritty, who had styled himself as Dr Fox’s adviser, in his role as a trustee of Mr Werritty’s Atlantic Bridge charity, which has since been dissolved.
Lord Astor resigned from its board in May last year at the same time as Dr Fox.
Kevan Jones, the Shadow Defence Minister, told The Herald: “Lord Astor needs to explain when he last met Adam Werritty, under what circumstances and what they discussed.
“He is a defence minister in the Government. He also needs to explain his role in Atlantic Bridge”.
It came as a number of Government departments, including LibDem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s, refused to say if any members of their teams had met with Mr Werritty.
It is also understood meetings between ministers and Mr Werritty are now being investigated by Sir Gus O’Donnell, Britain’s top civil servant, as part of his inquiry into Dr Fox.
The Herald reported on Wednesday ministers other than Dr Fox may have met with Mr Werritty, who saw his friend 40 times at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and abroad over the last 17 months.
Atlantic Bridge was dissolved this month by its trustees following criticism it promoted Tory party policies.
A spokesman for the MoD said: “He (Lord Astor) has met him, because he was involved with Atlantic Bridge.”
However, he added the two men had not met at the MoD and he “had not been advised of” any meetings overseas.
The MoD refused to comment on any meetings with other ministers, saying that would have to wait for the outcome of Sir Gus O’Donnell’s report, being led by the Cabinet Office.
The Foreign Office also refused to say whether any of their ministers had had meetings with Mr Werritty and directed all inquiries to the Cabinet Office.
A spokesman for that department, effectively led by Mr Clegg, said it would not be appropriate.
However, a number of Whitehall departments, including the Department of Health and the Scotland Office, were able to say categorically none of their ministers had had any meetings with Dr Fox’s former flatmate.
Mr Jones added: “It is intriguing that some departments can confirm their ministers have not met Adam Werritty, but others are trying to hide behind the Cabinet Office inquiry.
“Those departments need to come clean and and say if their ministers have met Mr Werritty or not”.
The apparent widening of the scandal came as Ed Miliband accused David Cameron of being “weak” over his handling of the crisis.
Scrutiny also continued to surround a number of Tory party donors, thought to have helped pay for Mr Werritty’s time and travel.
Labour asked the political spending watchdog, the Electoral Commission, to investigate claims accepting such donations could have broken strict rules.
However, allies of the Defence Secretary insisted he had no intention of stepping down.
A friend of Dr Fox insisted the inquiry will exonerate the Defence Secretary. “I know there is no more to find. There just isn’t.”
Mr Cameron also claimed Dr Fox was doing a “good job”.
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