Culture secretary accuses Labour of jumping on bandwagon and says judgment on him should await a ruling from Leveson
Jeremy Hunt accused Labour of jumping on a "political bandwagon" as the opposition demanded he resign over his role in establishing a back channel to feed Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation sensitive information about both his own thinking and that of Ofcom, the independent regulator, on the firm's bid to take over BSkyB.
Hunt said he believed Smith had overstepped the mark "unintentionally" and had not believed he was giving anything more than advice on process. "I believe him to be a man of the utmost integrity and decency," he said.
He said that on all the critical decisions taken by the government about the bid by News Corp for BSkyB, he had always acted on the advice of the independent regulators.
Almost immediately after Hunt's trip, James Murdoch visited Cameron in London, and privately told him that News Corp had agreed to switch support to the Tories in the upcoming election. Hunt then became culture secretary in the victorious Tory government.
The prime minister's spokesman said Leveson had called for no other inquiries to be established into Hunt's behaviour pending his own report.
The government ruled out asking the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Alex Allen, to conduct an inquiry into whether Hunt had breached the ministerial code.
Labour described the decision to await the verdict of Leveson as the "flimsiest form of defence", adding that Hunt had committed multiple breaches of the ministerial code, and called on David Cameron to take responsibility for the conduct of his ministers.
Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, accused Cameron of putting his "cronies" before country.
Harriet Harman, the shadow culture secretary, accused Hunt of misleading MPs about the scale of his contact with News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel. She asked: "How Fred Michel, in a series of emails beginning on 23 January, was in a position to tell Murdoch the full detail of a statement the secretary of state was not going to give to this House until two days later?
There can be no doubt that Michel's emails accurately and in detail described meetings the secretary of state had had, and accurately foretold what the secretary of state was going to do. Either Michel was Mystic Meg or he was told."
In response to the latest crisis, the Cabinet Office announced that fresh guidance was being issued to ministers on how they and their advisers should conduct themselves when asked to take quasi-judicial decisions. Hunt also gave a strong hint that ministers might in future lose the power to clear media ownership takeovers, instead leaving the issue with independent regulatory authorities.
The culture secretary said: "I took four decisions in this process. Each of those decisions was against what News Corporation wanted."
He said the first of these decisions was to say he was minded to refer the bid to the Competition Commission, which Hunt said was not what James Murdoch had wanted.
Hunt said he was also obligated to take undertakings in lieu of any referral to the Competition Commission, but his second decision was to ensure these undertakings were considered by Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading.
He said he also decided to extend the time for consultation and then, following revelations about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone, he asked Ofcom and the OFT to rule on whether the scandal was relevant to the decision on the bid.
Hunt said this demonstrated that any suggestion he was backing the bid was "laughable". He added that his permanent secretary, Jonathan Stephens, had cleared his special adviser Smith to act as the intermediary with News Corp.
Hunt was largely defended by his backbenchers, but the Speaker, to the visible anger of the prime minister, intervened at one point to stop him making attacks on the opposition and urge him to answer the questions being put to him.
Hunt stumbled when he was asked how statements due to be made to the House were handed in advance to News Corp.
Jeremy Hunt accused Labour of jumping on a "political bandwagon" as the opposition demanded he resign over his role in establishing a back channel to feed Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation sensitive information about both his own thinking and that of Ofcom, the independent regulator, on the firm's bid to take over BSkyB.
The culture minister, with the "full support" of the prime minister, said judgment on his actions should await a ruling by Lord Justice Leveson.
In a statement to the Commons, he said it was a matter of great regret that his special adviser, Adam Smith, had felt forced to resign, but insisted he had known nothing about the "inappropriate" volume and tone of communications between Smith and News Corp.
He said that on all the critical decisions taken by the government about the bid by News Corp for BSkyB, he had always acted on the advice of the independent regulators.
Official documents reveal that Hunt spent five days in the US holding meetings with News Corp at the same point the Murdochs were first deciding whether to bid for BSkyB.
The prime minister's spokesman said Leveson had called for no other inquiries to be established into Hunt's behaviour pending his own report.
The government ruled out asking the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Alex Allen, to conduct an inquiry into whether Hunt had breached the ministerial code.
Labour described the decision to await the verdict of Leveson as the "flimsiest form of defence", adding that Hunt had committed multiple breaches of the ministerial code, and called on David Cameron to take responsibility for the conduct of his ministers.
Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, accused Cameron of putting his "cronies" before country.
Harriet Harman, the shadow culture secretary, accused Hunt of misleading MPs about the scale of his contact with News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel. She asked: "How Fred Michel, in a series of emails beginning on 23 January, was in a position to tell Murdoch the full detail of a statement the secretary of state was not going to give to this House until two days later?
There can be no doubt that Michel's emails accurately and in detail described meetings the secretary of state had had, and accurately foretold what the secretary of state was going to do. Either Michel was Mystic Meg or he was told."
In response to the latest crisis, the Cabinet Office announced that fresh guidance was being issued to ministers on how they and their advisers should conduct themselves when asked to take quasi-judicial decisions. Hunt also gave a strong hint that ministers might in future lose the power to clear media ownership takeovers, instead leaving the issue with independent regulatory authorities.
The culture secretary said: "I took four decisions in this process. Each of those decisions was against what News Corporation wanted."
He said the first of these decisions was to say he was minded to refer the bid to the Competition Commission, which Hunt said was not what James Murdoch had wanted.
Hunt said he was also obligated to take undertakings in lieu of any referral to the Competition Commission, but his second decision was to ensure these undertakings were considered by Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading.
He said he also decided to extend the time for consultation and then, following revelations about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone, he asked Ofcom and the OFT to rule on whether the scandal was relevant to the decision on the bid.
Hunt said this demonstrated that any suggestion he was backing the bid was "laughable". He added that his permanent secretary, Jonathan Stephens, had cleared his special adviser Smith to act as the intermediary with News Corp.
Hunt was largely defended by his backbenchers, but the Speaker, to the visible anger of the prime minister, intervened at one point to stop him making attacks on the opposition and urge him to answer the questions being put to him.
Hunt stumbled when he was asked how statements due to be made to the House were handed in advance to News Corp.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/25/jeremy-hunt-resists-quit-bskyb
