Grilling over Murdoch leaves Hunt bruised but not bowed

JEREMY Hunt clung on to his job following a bruising session at the Leveson Inquiry as David Cameron insisted the Culture Secretary broke no rules in his close dealings with News Corporation.

On yet another dramatic day at the Royal Courts of Justice, evidence was produced that Mr Hunt sent private text messages to News Corp executive James Murdoch congratulating and encouraging him on the progress of his bid to take control of BSkyB, only hours before the Culture Secretary was appointed as the impartial judge of whether that bid could go ahead.

With Labour questioning why the Prime Minister had ever chosen to put Mr Hunt in charge of making such an important ruling when his pro-News Corp views were widely known, the Culture Secretary accepted he had long been “sympathetic” to the Murdochs’ position but said he had put those views to one side once in charge of the bid process.

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Mr Hunt did admit, however, he considered resigning earlier this month when a tranche of explosive texts and emails showing his office’s extensive dealings with News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel were published by the inquiry, describing the frequency of contact as “quite extraordinary”.

But in the end he decided it was his former special adviser Adam Smith who would have to quit, owing to the “inappropriate language” used in some of his private messages to Mr Michel.

“I did think about my own position,” Mr Hunt said. “But I had conducted the bid scrupulously fairly throughout every stage, and I believed it was possible to demonstrate that. I decided it wasn’t appropriate for me to go.”

As Mr Cameron gave his unequivocal backing to the Culture Secretary within minutes of yesterday’s hearing drawing to a close, Opposition MPs focused on the Prime Minister’s decision to give control of the bid process to a Cabinet Minister who personally lobbied for the takeover to be permitted only days before.

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Jeremy Hunt should never have been given the quasi-judicial role in the first place as he was biased in favour of the bid,” said Shadow Culture Secretary Harriet Harman. “David Cameron knew this to be the case.”

But Number 10 said Mr Hunt had acted correctly, and he would not be referred to the man in charge of investigating possible breaches of the Ministerial Code, Sir Alex Alan.

“Jeremy Hunt’s evidence has shown that he acted properly while he was responsible for the BSkyB bid,” a Downing Street spokeswoman said. “He took independent advice at every turn, as well as a number of decisions which were against News Corporation’s wishes.”

Mr Hunt took the witness chair yesterday under enormous pressure after the publication earlier this month of the extensive contacts between Mr Smith, in his office, and Mr Michel at News Corp.

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The Culture Secretary sought to distance himself from those messages yesterday, insisting while he and Mr Smith worked extremely closely, he was “totally shocked” when the scale of his contact with Mr Michel became clear.

Seeking to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the lobbyist, he said Mr Michel had been “pushy” and “cheeky” in the “extraordinary” number of texts and emails he had sent.

But Mr Hunt admitted he had given no advice to Mr Smith on how to deal with the contact as the bid proceeded and often looked uncomfortable under nearly six hours of intensive questioning about the extent of his own contacts with News Corp.

In one text message to James Murdoch on the day the News Corp bid was cleared by the European Commission, he wrote: “Great news about Brussels. Just Ofcom to go!”

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Within hours, Business Secretary Vince Cable had been stripped of his responsibility for judging the bid after a conversation with undercover journalists revealed his opposition to the Murdochs.

After speaking to Mr Murdoch about the situation by phone, the Culture Secretary immediately fired off text messages to Chancellor George Osborne and the Prime Minister’s then-spokesman Andy Coulson to express his concerns.

Within an hour, it was announced Mr Hunt had been placed in charge of the bid.