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Forget Hunt. What did Cameron know?

April 24, 2012 6:08 pm

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Well the Leveson enquiry certainly went up a few gears today. It must’ve done, as Russell Brand attending a select committee (a rare crossover between pop culture and politics) will barely get a mention in tomorrow’s papers. They will be all Hunt.

Brace yourselves for some truly dreadful puns.

JH – as he shall perhaps now forever be known – saw a rapid shortening of his political life expectancy today. He woke up as the potential next Health Secretary, he left his department today as a political dead man walking, running away from Sky News. Unedifying, yes, but completely understandable. If even a fraction of these emails prove to be even partially accurate, the Hunt is toast. He’s been described as a News International cheerleader, but the emails read worse that that. He comes across as a News International toady, keen to please – and help.

His role demanded impartiality. He must’ve known what that meant, especially after Vince Cable was stripped of the same powers over his own inability to be impartial.

Yet it also became clear today that just two days after Cable was embarrassingly hauled over the coals and forced to give up his BSkyB role (which led to Hunt’s appointment), David Cameron was meeting James Murdoch for a cosy pre-Christmas dinner round at Rebekah Brooks’ house. Murdoch says the issue of the BSkyB takeover was raised. And what else could they have been discussing but Hunt’s appointment? It was, and I really can’t stress this enough, only two days after Cable had handed the powers to Hunt.

Thus far, there is no suggestion of impropriety on the behalf of the Prime Minister. Cameron has stressed before that he has purposefully been kept out of discussions on the takeover bid. Hunt alone was meant to be handling things. Yet Cameron will still be expected to account for what he knew and when. Jeremy Hunt’s career looks like it’s coming to a close today. This is a big story, but for it to go any further – it will need to travel up the political ladder. What did Cameron know? Perhaps nothing. But his staff aren’t great at getting a story straight. Even on trivial things. In the past they have said that Cameron was “not been involved in any of the discussions about BSkyB”. Today James Murdoch says that they did discuss BSkyB.

If that needs any “clarification”, then this will be a huge story indeed…

Related posts:

  1. Labour declares war on Murdoch
  2. John Denham’s letter to Gus O’Donnell on Vince Cable and Jeremy Hunt
  3. Miliband responds to withdrawal of BSkyB bid
  4. Ed keeps on winning – so why stop now?
  5. Miliband responds to Government support for BSkyB motion
  • Leslie48

    This story is like Watergate – it never stops giving and even now with “163 emails”  between Hunt’s people and Murdoch’s people Hunt tries to suggest impartiality- just unbelievable stinking stuff which as the Channel 4 News says shows the relationship between our  political class and News Corporation. Back door meetings, horse riding, parties, phone calls  - all this so they could keep ” The Sun ”  on board and now we have emails with Hunt’s folk saying don’t worry we will try and get your bid  through.  Carry on Ed and Harriet. 

    PS Nick Robinson on BBC’s 6 o’clock still trying to remain neutral and supplicant to his Tory friends. Preston very good and realistic ; Channel Four news brilliant, crisp and exactly what TV news should be like. 

    • treborc1

      Channel Four news brilliant, crisp and exactly what TV news should be like.

      Do not say that to loud Murdock is looking for something to take over so he can be Chairman again.

  • Peter MacDonald

    As ever, Cameron’s Modus Operandi seems to be “delegate and deny all knowledge” – which is why he can never be implicated in the scandals surrounding his bungling ministers – and for a government that is just two years old, we’ve certainly had our fair number.    Given Andy Coulson’s role in Cameron’s administration, though, I think we can all guess where Cameron’s sympathies lay.   The more where hear from Leveson,  the more we learn about just how linked the tabloid press and our government was – disturbing indeed. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Graeme-Hancocks/1156294498 Graeme Hancocks

    His career OUGHT to be toast! If most of us behaved like that in our jobs we could expect to be fired.

    Leslie48. I do agree with you. I watched both BBC and ITV news reports on this saga at 10 pm tonigth (24th April 2012). I  had always had the impression  Nicky Robinson was somwhat biased in his reporting but Tom Bradby on ITV is just shameless in putting a pro tory spin on everything. He  could at least PRETEND to be unbiased!

  • Brumanuensis

    With any luck, our friend Berkshire will be out of his job by the end of the week. An utter abuse of power, especially as Cable had been removed – rightly in my view – for indicating he couldn’t make an impartial decision.

    • treborc1

       I suspect Cable could not do much with Murdock controlling the situation, for a long time now the Murdock’s have actually controlled to a degree which party govern this country with it’s media empire.

      I suspect James Murdock would be willing to  do what ever it takes to make the Tories suffer, so it takes the pressure off him and his old man, look at it today we are talking about Cameron and Hunt not James Murdock.

      • Daniel Speight

         Exactly. Spot on.

  • Diverman01

    And what about Blair and Mandelson’s relationship with Murdoch in the past. Pots and kettles come to mind and Watson’s dubious actions in the past in the internecine war between Blair and Brown as revealed by News International.

  • Cross Man

    At the risk of sounding like the ghost at the feast, Hunt has yet to be accused of anything. It has already been established that Michel is rather overegging the amount of influence that he had, to the extent that half of the “Spoke to JH” emails were basically made up. 

    Personally, the Culture Secretary should at least be allowed to explain himself. I really dislike this “guilty until proven innocent” mentality that Leveson has forced upon us.Then again, the whole thing is irrelevant to the majority of voters anyway. 

    • Leslie48

      But not to our standards of democracy it is not and what an absurd statement to make – if anything has damaged the UK over the last 40 years its been the Murdoch empire with its anti-European, anti-social democratic , anti-progressive , anti-PR newspapers that have coarsened UK politics and put them close to the gutter level – well beyond levels seen in most of Europe. We have so much damaging stuff about News Corp’s tentacles. It has remember acted illegally & shocked the public with its massive deeply offensive hacking scandal. You underestimate our public. In the States too all this would be taken as seriously but I guess some folk would be already in handcuffs! 

      • derek

        Leslie48, Yeah! every one has their price and the murky world of cash and favours has pierced the heart of integrity at the highest order.

        • treborc1

           If you have a spin doctor or an assistant who is over egging it, or causing the minister problems the question is why did you give them the task, why did you not check what they were doing and why were they doing actually your job in the first place, I doubt Hunt would get away with that one.

      • GuyM

        So being “anti-European, anti Social-Democratic, anti-progressive, anti-PR” damages Britain’s interests?

        Sounds to me like they are a fine set of values for anyone to hold

        • leslie48

          We all know why the Sun and his other press portrayed these values so he could have his Neo-Liberalism / Unbridled Capitalism doing what he and his kind wanted- Continental Europe such as France, Germany and Scandanavia offered alternative ways to his model and so we have seen superior living standards, less inequality and expanding economies in such societies. Murdoch hates Europe for economic and social reasons.

  • James3010

    it’s called the dirty word aka politics. anyone who doesn’t think shady deals go on behind the scenes regardless of which party is in govt is living in lala land. as things stand as i write this missive it’s all if buts and maybes  so i will hold on an opinion until the media dust has settled and we know what actually happened not just what has been reported to have allegedly happened.

  • Daniel Speight

    Mark before we enjoy Cameron’s, (and Alex Salmond’s), discomfort too much we should remember that today may well see the Rupert Murdoch talking about his relationship with Blair, Brown and others in recent leadership positions in the Labour Party.

    If I were a Blairite I would be getting very worried. In fact if I were Rob Marchant I wouldn’t be worrying about the bottom line of a Spanish oil company, I would be worrying if my hero could ever come back to Britain again. Will  he become a 21st. Century Bonnie Prince Charlie, living off lecture fees instead of handouts from the French court, and never seeing  home again;-)

  • GuyM

    Having read through a lot of the emails I’m not sure where the big problem is.

    Frederick Michel seems to be “bigging up” his relationship with firstly Cable and then Hunt. He is implying CAble is in favour of the bid all the way up to the point it gets leaked about his views of NewsCorp and then it gets glossed over and he moves onto Hunt.

    Throughout the emails you seem to get NewsCorp staff talking the relationship with Cable and then Hunt up in subjective comments, only for all official emails from the government to indicate very strict criteria in terms of neutrality. There is even a long document detailing the meetings that took place.

    Having managed a number of large multi million ITTs, it is standard practice to meet with, brief and advise all parties bidding within acceptable boundaries of confidentiality and neutrality. I know a lot of Labourites have little or no experience of this sort of business process but perhaps some of you might learn what actually is and isn’t acceptable in business transactions. For instance the two sides reguarly talking is not a problem.

    With Hunt you seem to get long lines of emails where Michel is talking up the relationship with Hunt, only to then get a “JH has texted to say he can’t interfere with the process” or “he wil still go with what Ofcom recommends”.

    It goes on with Michel talking things up, until we get to a stage where after Hunt has not speeded the process up as NewsCorp would have liked we get the following:

    “Just had a strong conversation with JH…..I floated the threat… we could withdraw at any moment….” but Hunt replies “a threat to withdraw would not influence his views of judgement”. Which hardly seems th esort of conversation you’d report if you had some sort of tacit agreement.

    Throughout the emails Michel is talking up the responses of Cable (till he is shown to be against them) Hunt (despite getting nowhere with him), Vaizey (despite admitting he hasn’t met them since the election), Salmond, labour back benchers and so on.

    Yet throughout the entire 160 odd pages I can’t see where NewsCorp got anything tangible as an advantage?

    You could read it all and believe Michel that loads of members of the government and other politicans were telling lies in public for ages, or you could read it all and conclude Michel is talking his success up all the time but at each stage a decision is taken they get no favours at all in the official press releases.

    Hunt might well be toast, but equally he might be completely above board and have the evidence to prove it.

    The problem is Labour will automatically go with the conspiracy line irrespective of the “truth” because it suits them to do so.

    I suspect all this will do is drag all politicians through the mud a lot more.

    Dispassionate analysis if the emails proves neither one thing nor the other, but I suspect more LL posters will be unable to accept that.

    • Daniel Speight

       I guess one test would be to find out if James Murdoch and Hunt had that telephone conversation when Hunt thought it would be improper to have a face-to-face meeting. Did Hunt make that call to Murdoch’s mobile? If he did that would be pretty damming and very hard for Hunt to spin his way out of.

      • Daniel Speight

         If he did that would be pretty damming and very hard for Hunt to spin his way out of.

        From today’s Guardian.

        Hunt has not attempted to deny that he made a mobile phone call to James
        Murdoch in 10 November after cancelling a meeting with Murdoch because
        he had received legal advice that it would be inappropriate to see him.

        I guess that will be pretty hard to show as being the correct thing to have done. The again recent history shows it takes quite a lot to get a minister to resign now-a-days. Still Tom Watson’s mafia family description of the Murdochs starts to ring even truer when the have bent (quasi) judge under their control;-)

  • AlanGiles

    Rebekah Brooks turns up like a bad smell in every N.I. story. I think she made a very shrewd move in deciding to have a baby by A.I. – juries are usually very sympathetic to ladies in waiting.

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