Jeremy Hunt faces calls to resign over BSkyB claims

Labour has called for the resignation of the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, over allegations that he set up a private back channel to News Corporation at a time when he was charged with making a quasi-judicial decision on whether to allow its takeover of BSkyB. Harriet Harman, Labour's shadow culture secretary, called for Hunt's resignation in the Commons on Tuesday after it was alleged in evidence to the Leveson inquiry that he had used the channel to provide detailed information to James Murdoch on the state of the bid, as well as the thinking of the media regulator Ofcom. Harman told the Commons the right thing would be for the culture secretary to come to the chamber to apologise and to resign. Chris Bryant, a former Labour shadow culture minister who was a victim of News of the World phone hacking, also suggested issues of privilege might arise, including whether a minister had misled the house. There were also calls for the Scottish secretary, Michael Moore, to come to the chamber to address allegations made at the Leveson inquiry on Tuesday concerning the conduct of the Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond, during News Corp's Sky takeover bid. Aides to Hunt insisted he was not going to quit and was satisfied he had behaved with complete propriety throughout the regulatory process relating to the Sky bid. During the appearance by James Murdoch, News Corp's deputy chief operating officer, before Lord Justice Leveson on Tuesday, the inquiry was shown extracts from 163 pages of email correspondence from Fréd Michel, News Corp's director of public affairs for Europe during the Sky takeover bid, to Murdoch marked "confidential", detailing communications with Hunt, often via Hunt's special adviser, Adam Smith. Hunt's aides also stood by Smith, and suggested Michel had wildly exaggerated the level of his knowledge and contacts with Hunt's Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) during the decision-making process between June 2010 and July 2011. David Cameron's spokesman insisted the prime minister had confidence in the culture secretary. He also said he would not provide a running commentary on a judicial process, referring to the Leveson inquiry. The inquiry heard on Tuesday afternoon that Hunt's office had asked News Corp for "input" into a Commons statement made by the culture secretary on the bid for BSkyB in January 2011. One email sent by Michel on 23 January 2011 drew gasps in court 73 as the counsel for the Leveson inquiry, Robert Jay, read out the lobbyist's boasts about how he had obtained information from Hunt about a statement he was about to make on the BSkyB bid. "Confidential. JH statement. Managed to get some infos on the plans for tomorrow (although absolutely illegal)." Murdoch told the inquiry he thought this was a joke. Hunt's DCMS officials, speaking before they had had a chance to look at the emails handed to Leveson in detail, said the culture secretary had not spoken to Michel on a daily basis and was willing to make his phone records available to check the veracity of the claims made at the inquiry. His officials said Michel had exaggerated his knowledge of what the government was thinking and was trying to present his employers with an impression that he had an inside track. Hunt's aides said the culture secretary had always been minded to send the Sky takeover to the Competition Commission, adding that the bar for giving it the go-ahead had been raised by the behaviour of the business secretary, Vince Cable. Cable was forced to hand over ministerial responsibility for the bid to Hunt in December 2010 after telling undercover Daily Telegraph reporters that he was at war with Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp chairman and chief executive. DCMS officials said they were not aware whether Hunt had spoken directly to the prime minister about the allegations.