Liam Fox and close friend and 'adviser' Adam Werritty
Adam Werritty, the self-styled adviser to former Defence Secretary Liam Fox, plotted with the Israeli intelligence service Mossad to topple Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it has been claimed.
Mr Werritty was so highly regarded by Mossad - who thought he was Dr Fox's chief of staff - that he was able to arrange meetings with figures at the highest levels of the Israeli government, according to the The Independent on Sunday.
In one of the most dramatic revelations to emerge about the former Defence Secretary's best man, it is said he visited Iran on several occasions and met Iranian opposition groups in Washington and London over the past few years.
Mr Werritty also joined Dr Fox, while he was shadow defence secretary, on a visit to Iran in the summer of 2007. The paper understands the adviser has visited the country on several occasions before and since, although it is not known how long he stayed or whom he met.
One diplomatic source suggested that Mr Werritty, once back in London, had been debriefed by MI6 about his travels to Iran.
In May 2009, Mr Werritty, who can speak some Farsi, arranged a meeting in Portcullis House between the former Defence Secretary and an Iranian lobbyist with close links to President Ahmadinejad's regime.
In February this year, Mr Werritty then arranged a dinner with Dr Fox, Britain's ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, and senior political figures – understood to include Israeli intelligence agents – during an Israeli security conference in Herzliya, during which sanctions against Iran were discussed.
Despite Mr Werritty having no official Ministry of Defence capacity, an Israeli source said there was "no question" that Mr Werritty was regarded as anyone other than Dr Fox's chief of staff who was able to fix meetings at the highest levels, and was seen as an "expert on Iran".
The Foreign Office declined last night to comment on any aspect of Mr Werritty's activities.
The plot could well have proved impossible, but Mr Werritty's activities are seen to fly in the face of the British Government's efforts to pursue a diplomatic solution, through the UN, to Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The new revelations will also fuel concern in the Foreign Office that the man - who had unrestricted access to one of the Cabinet's most important ministers - was at the same time trying to unseat the Iranian President as part of a "shadow foreign policy".
One Whitehall source was scathing of Mr Werritty. The source told the Independent on Sunday: "Ask yourself what he was doing there. It's regime change but only in his own mind. I can't think of anything more stupid, wandering round Iran flying the British flag. Does he really think the answer to Iran's nuclear ambitions – which we all want to resolve – is to have a bunch of people encouraging the opposition there in that way?
"We do have a responsibility to those people, and anything that's done like that has to have government approval, which he doesn't seem to have had. It's ridiculous. You are inviting people to believe you have the Government's resources behind them, and in fact the opposition is likely to be brutally crushed."
The fresh disclosures could form part of the Cabinet Office's inquiry into Dr Fox and Mr Werritty, which is expected as early as Tuesday.
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