Is Liam Fox the new Churchill?

Posted April 29, 201114 yr

They say comparison is invidious. Liam Fox may certainly think so this afternoon.

Dr Fox, the defence secretary, was speaking today a Westminster lunch with political journalists and MPs.

In the q+a session afterwards, he was asked about his decision to take members of his staff to a Whitehall pub last month, shortly after the British intervention in Libya began. The pub trip was reported unkindly at the time by the Daily Mirror, whose reporter Tom McTague asked Dr Fox the question today.

Dr Fox, a sociable type, pointed out that he had not drunk alcohol during Lent, only breaking his fast last night.

“Given that it was, until last night, the last pint of beer I had, I don’t think it was entirely unreasonable,” he said.

And there the matter might have rested. But Dr Fox decided to press on, adding: “It’s a bit like asking Churchill if he regrets having a drink during World War II.”

Oh dear. Labour MPs did not take long to aim for that particular open goal.

Kevan Jones, a Labour shadow defence minister, said: “This is yet another demonstration of the over-inflated opinion Liam Fox has of himself.”

Michael Dugher, his colleague, added: ““Liam Fox is no Winston Churchill.”