- Jeremy Hunt has submitted over 160 pages of emails, text messages and memos to the inquiry as evidence.
- His request to have his appearance moved forward was refused by Lord Leveson.
On the same day he replaced Vince Cable overseeing the bid, Hunt texted James Murdoch: “Great and congrats on Brussels [competition ruling]. Just Ofcom to go.”
Asked: “Any communication between Mr Michel and Mr Smith would be no different would it to communication between Mr Michel and you, because Mr Smith was your agent.”
Hunt replied: “Not in this process. Sometimes SPADS have a role which is speaking for their boss, but in this situation Mr Smiths’ role was a different one. He was a point of contact in a very complex process. He was there to advise NewsCorp about questions they had about the process, and also to reassure them that the process was fair.”
Hunt on his Conservative Party special adviser Adam Smith: “I would have said he’s politically fairly neutral.”
Hunt: “Can we chat about Murdoch’s Sky Bid. I’m seriously worried we might screw this up. Just been called by James Murdoch, his lawyers are meeting now and saying it calls into question the legitimacy of the whole process from the beginning. Acute bias.”
Osborne: “I hope you like the solution”
Hunt tells Robert Jay QC that he was the “solution”.
This looks to be fatal. Jeremy Hunt discussed Vince Cable’s leaked “war on Murdoch” remarks with James Murdoch. Hours later he had Cable’s job. He also congratulates Murdoch by text that the bid has cleared European competition regulators, saying “Great”.
On the subject of his phone call with James Murdoch a few days before the infamous memo to Cameron, Hunt says off minutes meetings with stakeholders were “at [his] discretion” and that a phone call would be “appropriate.”
Mr Jay asked “If a meeting is inappropriate, why is a phone call appropriate?”
In reply, Hunt seems to suggst that any meeting or phone call would have been used to “set out the ground rules.”
Hunt says that he was advised not to interfere with the quasi-judicial process when Vince Cable had responsibility. So why did he send a memo to Cameron supporting the BSkyB bid?
Robert Jay asked Hunt to confirm Ian Martin’s story that Hunt had obscured himself in foliage to stop reporters spotting him going into a dinner also attended by Rupert and James Murdoch. Hunt says “There may or may not have been trees.”
Hunt says the only email account he has is his personal one. This is the way Michael Gove used to avoid disclosure of correspondence under FOI.
