Time to rally behind Liam Fox

There is increasing speculation that Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox's position is precarious. Whilst Conservative Home reports he was given a dressing down by Hague and Cameron last week, other sources indicate that he is regarded as out of kilter with the current mood. Liam Fox and William Hague have been close friends for many years. This makes the current difficulties all the more surprising. It is known that some junior members of the Shadow Foreign Affairs team regard Mr Fox as a nuisance and complain that he still acts as if he was Shadow Foreign Secretary (a position he occupied for a few months under Michael Howard).

The reality is that Mr Fox deserves strong support. Whilst the Hague-Cameron Foreign Policy Axis has been carefully crafted in the face of focus group analysis and a desire to unite the party, Mr Fox has maintained a dignified and principled stance on the war on terror, Iraq, our relations with the United States and the Middle East conflict. Far from blowing with the wind, Mr Fox has staked out real conviction politics. Whilst the Cameroons wanted to show off John McCain at the Party Conference, Mr Fox thinks it is more important to agree with him on substantive issues. Unlike the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Mr Fox is thought to give short shrift to the Hamilton-Baker report.

As one of the last remaining neo-cons in the Shadow Cabinet (Mr Osborne's views are in hibernation at present), Mr Fox is in an exposed position. But, it should not be forgotten that he represents an important body of opinion in the Conservative Party and is admired by numerous MPs of the new intake. He would be dangerous on the backbenches.

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