A devastating series of emails shown to the Leveson Inquiry lays bare the secret collusion between Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, and News Corporation as the company was trying to buy BSkyB.
The media empire controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his son James was given near-daily updates by email from Mr Hunt's office, while the Culture Secretary was in charge of scrutinising the takeover.
News Corp executives were even given private briefings on Mr Hunt’s confidential discussions with regulators and other media organisations.
At one point, News Corp's chief lobbyist emailed James Murdoch to say he had “managed to get some info” on what Jeremy Hunt would announce to Parliament the next day "although absolutely illegal!".
The same lobbyist suggested an agreed "plan" between News Corp and the Government would lead to "game over for the opposition".
Mr Hunt was initially not involved in whether to the takeover should be approved. However, he given the quasi-legal job of deciding BSkyB's fate in December 2010 after the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, was stripped of the role for telling two undercover Daily Telegraph reporters he had "declared war on Mr Murdoch".
His job was to remain impartial as he weighed up whether letting News Corp take over BSKyB would hand too much power to the Murdoch family.
However, his close relationship with News Corp is revealed as part of Rupert Murdoch's evidence on the workings of the media industry.
The emails from the computer of Frederic Michel, an expert in managing reputation, who was News Corp's head of public affairs and key lobbyist in Westminster.
Throughout the conversations, Mr Michel refers to his intelligence from “Jeremy” or “JH”, though he now says he used this as a “shorthand” term for Hunt's advisers Adam Smith and John Zeff.
Dozens of emails appear to have passed between “JH” and Mr Michel, during the months the Culture Secretary was in charge of the deal.
The existence of the emails was revealed as James Murdoch, the News Corp boss, gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry, the day before his father is due to appear.
James Murdoch defended the actions of his lobbyists, saying Mr Michel was “doing his job as a public affairs executive”.
He said he was not convinced all the information from Mr Hunt's office was a correct reflection of the facts.
"I’m not sure how accurate they were anyway. All of this was taken with a grain of salt," he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/leveson-inquiry/9223678/Jeremy-Hunt-the-secret-News-Corp-emails-and-the-absolutely-illegal-tip-off.html
