Ministerial resignations normally clear the air. The temperature cools immediately and political business resumes as usual. But not in this case. Liam Fox's departure leaves a cloud of unanswered questions over the precise role of his friend, adam Werritty, in the Ministry of Defence. Had Mr Werritty just been a freeloader on the former minister's multifarious overseas trips it would only be a matter of a friendship that went too far. But as the growing calls for a fraud investigation into Mr Werritty's business activities indicate, much more is at stake here. What is disturbing about those activities is that they involved members of a number of groups with SMERSH-style acronyms such as Bicom, not to mention a now defunct group, atlantic Bridge - all lobby groups for various countries or foreign political interests - obtaining privileged access to a senior minister. Labour has made a great brouhaha over the now defunct atlantic Bridge and its links to climate change sceptics and Tea Party supporters in the US Republican party. More worrying than that is the possibility that Israel's right-wing government and even its security services enjoyed a kind of hotline to Mr Fox via Mr Werritty's friends in atlantic Bridge and Bicom. The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre describes itself as a "British organisation dedicated to creating a more supportive environment for Israel in Britain". But as the tributes on its own website from Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, show, it is seen as very close to the Israeli government, as was atlantic Bridge. Whether either organisation paid Mr Werritty for lobbying work remains to be seen and will presumably be addressed in this week's report on Mr