In evidence that went to the heart of the relationship between the media and the government, Mr Murdoch, the son of News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert, hinted that the culture secretary had passed on confidential information to the Murdochs regarding their proposed bid to take over BSkyB.

Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman called for Mr Hunt's resignation, saying his conduct had fallen 'woefully short' of that expected of a Cabinet minister.

No 10 said the prime minister had full confidence in the culture secretary, however.

Under questioning from lead inquiry counsel Robert Jay, Mr Murdoch Jnr - who resigned as executive chairman of News International in February and chairman of BSkyB earlier this month - claimed that a News Corporation lobbyist had been in touch with a special advisor to the culture secretary throughout the bid process.

Is anyone in the least bit surprised about this mess. It was sickening to see even back then that Hunt,the little toad was in Murdochs back pocket sucking hard. Camerons full confidence in someone means nothing, I hope Hunt is gone before the week is out.

 

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/897138-leveson...h#ixzz1sz5XFBp7

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/ap...b?newsfeed=true

 

 

Ed Miliband has also called for Hunt to go. Unusually for a leader of the opposition Miliband has been fairly reluctant to call for ministers to go so this is quite significant. I'm struggling to think of a minister under the last government who faced worse allegations and survived.

 

The Murdochs are obviously still miffed about the BSkyB bid being blocked and have decided to go for the jugular in a big way.

I'm struggling to think of a minister under the last government who faced worse allegations and survived.

Not a prime minister who led us into war on entirely fabricated grounds? A slightly more serious charge I think?

Not a prime minister who led us into war on entirely fabricated grounds? A slightly more serious charge I think?

At least he did that on the back of a House Of Commons vote - a vote called after the leader of the opposition had seen the evidence.

At least he did that on the back of a House Of Commons vote - a vote called after the leader of the opposition had seen the evidence.

I agree but the buck must stop somewhere- if only he'd checked out his research with Murdoch- he seems like an informed chap! :lol: ;)

I agree but the buck must stop somewhere- if only he'd checked out his research with Murdoch- he seems like an informed chap!

Except that every one of Murdoch's papers throughout the world supported the war.

 

In general the evidence wasn't fabricated. It's just that the people gathering it either ignored or didn't look very hard for any conflicting evidence. Obviously Blair has to take a lot of the blame for that.

 

Back on topic, John Whittingdale , chair of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport select committee has supported Hunt. How can he be trusted to chair any future enquiry into Hunt's conduct by his committee?

Hunt's special adviser Adam Smith has resigned. His resignation statement can be paraphrased as "Even though I was special adviser to Jeremy Hunt, I didn't actually tell him anything".

 

The ministerial code says "management and conduct of special advisers ... rests with the minister who made the appointment". That would be Hunt then. Bye bye.

Hunt has made a statement to the Commons. Every supposed question from Tory MPs was a complete waste of time apart from Peter Bone who asked whether Hunt could deny that he leaked statements on the takeover to News Corp in advance. Hunt simply said it was a matter for investigation.

 

Not for the first time Dennis Skinner had the best line - "When posh boys are in trouble they sack the servants".

Hunt has made a statement to the Commons. Every supposed question from Tory MPs was a complete waste of time apart from Peter Bone who asked whether Hunt could deny that he leaked statements on the takeover to News Corp in advance. Hunt simply said it was a matter for investigation.

 

Not for the first time Dennis Skinner had the best line - "When posh boys are in trouble they sack the servants".

 

Skinner deserves a Knighthood. Hunt was a joke in Parliament trying to justify and excuse his actions. I hope he is sacked, he is a two faced liar and clearly was misleading the Commons and the public in pretending that he was impartial with this bid.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jerem...-murochs-804687

Somehow I don't think Dennis Skinner would accept a knighthood even if he was offered one :lol:

Hunt is just the fall guy really, Cameron is ultimately responsible and it is highly likely that he agreed with Murdoch that Hunt would approve the takeover bid in exchange for some favourable gutter press. I'm not too bothered if he resigns, personally I enjoy his name appearing on the news. :D

Hunt is just the fall guy really, Cameron is ultimately responsible and it is highly likely that he agreed with Murdoch that Hunt would approve the takeover bid in exchange for some favourable gutter press. I'm not too bothered if he resigns, personally I enjoy his name appearing on the news. :D

Why do you think Cameron is so keen to hold on to Hunt? Hunt has lost his human shield. Cameron doesn't want to lose his.

It isn't just Hunt who should go, it's David Cameron.. They're both in this shit up to their necks... We still dont really know the real nature of the relationship with Coulson, Brooks, etc, and it turns out Camerons had about five meetings with the Murdochs that he never told anyone about... What were they discussing..? The weather...? Governments are very quick to lecture us "if you've nothing to hide....", etc, etc... Well, if Cameron and Co has nothing to hide, then they should be doing what Simon Hughes and Diane Abbott suggested on Question Time and set up an internal independent investigation to see if the Minesterial Code has been breached by Hunt or others.... If they've "nothing to hide", what's the problem...? -_-

It isn't just Hunt who should go, it's David Cameron.. They're both in this shit up to their necks... We still dont really know the real nature of the relationship with Coulson, Brooks, etc, and it turns out Camerons had about five meetings with the Murdochs that he never told anyone about... What were they discussing..? The weather...? Governments are very quick to lecture us "if you've nothing to hide....", etc, etc... Well, if Cameron and Co has nothing to hide, then they should be doing what Simon Hughes and Diane Abbott suggested on Question Time and set up an internal independent investigation to see if the Minesterial Code has been breached by Hunt or others.... If they've "nothing to hide", what's the problem...? -_-

 

This, although if Cameron were to be deposed who would we get? Although I'm fully behind Ken winning on Thursday if Boris were to lose his job I'm sure they could find a safe seat for him to conveniently take over (maybe his brother's?) and then there would be a LOT of backing for him to make a run at the leadership.

This, although if Cameron were to be deposed who would we get? Although I'm fully behind Ken winning on Thursday if Boris were to lose his job I'm sure they could find a safe seat for him to conveniently take over (maybe his brother's?) and then there would be a LOT of backing for him to make a run at the leadership.

With a bit of luck, if they tried anything so cynical, they would lose the byelection. The last blatant attempt to do this failed when Patrick Gordon-Walker lost his seat in the infamous Smethwick campaign (Tory slogan - "If you want a n***** for a neighbour vote Liberal or Labour") in the 1964 General Election. Harold Wilson had been expecting to appoint him as Foreign Secretary so the MP for Leyton was sent to the House Of Lords and Gordon-Walker stood in the byelection. He lost.

 

Cameron is now desperately trying to hang on to Hunt as his human shield in this affair. He has tried to insist that it is for Leveson to rule on the matter. Leveson, quite rightly, has said that the ministerial code is nothing to do with him. There is an official whose job it is to rule on the ministerial code. Cameron refused to refer Liam Fox to him and is now refusing to ask him to rule on Hunt.

 

It has now been reported that the group set up to oppose the bid for BSkyB (including the owners of the Telegraph, Mail and Guardian) were due to meet in December 2010. When Hunt assumed responsibility for ruling on the bid he cancelled the meeting on the grounds that it was "not appropriate". What a shame he and his office didn't apply the same rules to Murdoch and his minions.

Not a prime minister who led us into war on entirely fabricated grounds? A slightly more serious charge I think?

 

On a related note to that, Jack Straw and Tory (sic) Blair could find themselves in very hot water over the whole Abdel Hakim Belhadj affair... Belhadj is suing Straw and possibly Blair as well, so I reckon a LOT could potentially come out in the wash here... :rolleyes:

 

With a bit of luck, if they tried anything so cynical, they would lose the byelection. The last blatant attempt to do this failed when Patrick Gordon-Walker lost his seat in the infamous Smethwick campaign (Tory slogan - "If you want a n***** for a neighbour vote Liberal or Labour") in the 1964 General Election. Harold Wilson had been expecting to appoint him as Foreign Secretary so the MP for Leyton was sent to the House Of Lords and Gordon-Walker stood in the byelection. He lost.

 

If it was Jo Johnson's seat there's currently a majority of over 17,000 over the Lib Dems that Boris would be fighting with. Unless it was another Martin Bell / Neil Hamilton situation with a strong independent candidate he'd breeze through, especially since a lot of Tory voters actually like the buffoon.

Orpington (Jo Johnson's seat) was the scene of a famous Liberal byelection win in 1962. The winner - now Lord Avebury - is still around.

 

It would be such a cynical move to get someone who has been an MP for only two years to resign. Some sort of government appointment doesn't seem very likely as I doubt Cameron would want such an obvious rival back in the Commons any time soon. It is a real problem for the Tories that most of the people seen as potential successors have seen substantial damage to their reputations in recent months.

If Cameron's still in charge he wouldn't be too keen on having Boris back in the Commons, but you're right that there's a complete dearth of serious candidates. It's concerning that Eric Pickles is one of the least scandal-ridden (and therefore more likely leadership candidates) ministers now.

Well I suppose Pickles has one claim to be regarded as a heavyweight.