Liam Fox's best man and self-styled "adviser" Adam Werritty has spoken out for the first time since the former defence secretary resigned following questions about their relationship.
In an article for the Spectator magazine, Werritty said he had been "naive".
"I know and accept that I made mistakes, some of which were sufficiently serious to have played their part in Liam's resignation as defence secretary. As a close friend of his, I found this particularly hard," he wrote.
"I was certainly naive not to have better considered how my role, and regular contact with Liam, would look from the outside."
But he claimed he had never applied to be a special adviser because he knows "very little about defence policy".
Questions were raised about Werritty's influence over Fox and why the two had met 40 times in 18 months.
Fox resigned following claims his friendship with Werritty broke the ministerial code, saying he had "mistakenly allowed the distinction between my personal interest and my Government activities to become blurred".
Werritty said he was still friends with the former defence secretary, and was planning to spend the new year with Fox and his wife.
In the Spectator, Werritty said the reports about his relationship with Fox was "long on drama and innuendo, but short on details and specifics".