Cameron hauled back to defend Jeremy Hunt over BSkyB probe
DAVID Cameron was forced to return to parliament yesterday to defend his culture secretary Jeremy Hunt and his handling of News Corp’s bid for the rest of BSkyB.
Cameron pulled out of a local election campaign trip to Buckinghamshire so he could field an urgent question from the Labour party on Hunt, who has already faced calls for his resignation.
The prime minister said he would not start a “parallel” probe into Hunt’s behaviour. He said looking at the evidence given to the ongoing Leveson inquiry remains the best way to find out whether Hunt broke the ministerial code.
But MPs, including public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge, urged the Tories to act faster.
Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed Hunt broke rules by withholding details of his contact with News Corp from parliament, by giving lobbyist Fred Michel access to a speech before it was made to the House, and via the actions of his former special adviser Adam Smith.
Cameron hit back, complaining of the “self-serving double standards” employed by the Labour party. “I’m not waiting for Leveson to complete his investigation. If at any time evidence comes out showing [Hunt] breached the code I will act,” he added.
The PM’s defence of Hunt, who sat next to him in parliament during the rowdy 50-minute grilling, came as the culture select committee prepared to criticise News Corp staff in its own report into phone hacking at the firm’s UK newspapers, due to be published today.