by Solomon Hughes
in the security zone

LIAM FOX boasted about having lunch with press baron Rupert Murdoch within a week of the Brexit vote to delegates in a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference on Sunday night.

The Trade Secretary told the delegates at the packed meeting inside the conference security zone that he “happened to be having lunch with Rupert Murdoch” the Sunday after the EU referendum result. Fox was clearly flattered to be at the court of the right-wing Australian media magnate: he described the revelation of his lunch with Murdoch as “name-dropping.”

Continuing close links between the government and Murdoch have caused dismay outside the party. The recent revelation that Theresa May had a private meeting with Murdoch in September alarmed those who hoped a new Prime Minister would keep more distance from the owner of The Sun and other media — David Cameron’s relations with Murdoch and his associates brought his administration close to the phone-hacking scandal and raised concerns about the political influence of the media mogul.

However, Fox seemed delighted by the attention from Murdoch, almost as delighted as his own return to government. In his speech, held in a packed reception in an art gallery inside the Birmingham conference centre, Fox joked that Murdoch had told him that Brexit was too exciting even for his sensationalist newspapers. According to Fox, Murdoch told him over lunch: “Guys, we’re getting a month’s copy every week, we don’t need this level of drama to continue.”

Fox was generally gleeful about the referendum result and his return to government. He was forced to resign as David Cameron’s defence secretary in 2011 in a scandal following charges he allowed inappropriate official access to his friend and lobbyist Adam Werritty.

May brought Fox, a campaigner against EU membership, back into government following the Brexit vote. The newly appointed Trade Secretary told the late-night reception that “this is history in the making. All my political life I have waited for this moment,” adding that “every single one of us has a moral duty to make this succeed.”

While delegates cheered and raised their wine glasses, Fox said that he has “never felt so proud of my fellow citizens” for voting Out and expressed his thrill in “that moment, that incredible moment” when the referendum result was announced, saying: “What a tremendous thing we have done.”

There was obvious support among the hundred-or-so delegates listening to Fox’s enthusiastic speech about a “free trade” Britain outside the European Union. The chair of the meeting announced that 150 delegates had to be turned away because they could not fit in the room.

In a sideswipe at former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, Fox appeared to declare himself a “winner” and Clegg a “loser.”

Clegg recently claimed that Fox does not have a “real job” because he is charged with negotiating new trade deals when Britain can only sign such deals after fully exiting the EU. Fox said to laughing delegates: “Before you have too much wine, have a reality check. Nick Clegg feels sorry for me because I don’t have a job — there are reasons in politics why some people are winners and some are serial losers.”