Pressure grows on Jeremy Hunt as top civil servant repeatedly refuses to confirm that he was telling the truth in his account of the proposed BSkyB takeover.
At a parliamentary committee on Thursday Jonathan Stephens, the permanent secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, was asked ten times whether he agreed with Jeremy Hunt’s account of events at the Leveson Inquiry – but each time, he refused to answer.
Following his appearance, a Downing Street spokesman said there are no plans to investigate whether Mr Hunt’s conduct broke ministerial code. A culture department spokesman said Mr Stephens thought it would be inappropriate to comment on the matter.
Jeremy Hunt [pictured above] is facing increasing pressure to resign from the opposition, after the publication of numerous emails between his office and News Corp over the proposed takeover of BSkyB.
His special adviser Adam Smith took responsibility for the emails, and resigned on Wednesday, saying he acted without Mr Hunt’s knowledge.
But concerns remain over the relationship between Mr Hunt, who had a “quasi-judicial” responsibility in making his decision on the bid, and News Corp, before the company withdrew its offer following the row over phone hacking at News of the World. The former culture secretary and Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw, has indicated that giving a political advisor such a central role is not commonplace.
The Public Accounts Committee tried to find out from Mr Stephens whether Mr Smith had indeed taken over the role as a “channel of communication between the department and the Murdoch empire” and had acted alone. Mr Hunt said in parliament on Wednesday that Mr Stephens had agreed that Adam Smith would be News Corp’s point of contact.
But at today’s hearing, Mr Stephens refused to confirm or deny Mr Hunt’s account of events. The committee chairman, Margaret Hodge, asked: “Did you know that Adam Smith was acting as a channel of communication between the department and Murdoch?”
Mr Stephens replied: “The Secretary of State made a full statement to Parliament yesterday. He has made it clear that he’s providing full written evidence and is looking forward to providing oral evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.
“There was a statement by the special adviser yesterday which made it clear that he accepted that the nature and content of those contacts was not authorised by the Secretary of State nor by me.”
Ms Hodge repeated the question in different forms a total of ten times, but the department’s most senior civil servant kept referring her back to the statement made by Mr Smith on Wednesday.
By the eighth question, Labour MP Nick Smith jumped in to say: “Mr Stevens you don’t need to stonewall on this. Did you give guidance to Mr [Adam] Smith on his crucial role?”
Mr Stephens once again deflected the question, saying he was “very sorry” but would only discuss the cost of the Olympics – the original reason for his appearance.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, former culture secretary, tweeted that it was “inconceivable” Jeremy Hunt had not known what Adam Smith was doing. He has called on the department to publish the advice given to Mr Hunt by his permanent secretary, “on the role of Adam Smith as the contact point for News Corp”.
Also on Thursday, Ofcom said it is escalating its investigation into BSkyB and whether it was a “fit and proper” owner of a broadcasting licence.
Up until now, Ofcom was monitoring evidence in the public domain, but it has now asked for BSkyB correspondence as it delves deeper into the corporation records.
“Ofcom is gathering evidence which may assist it in assessing whether BSkyB is and remains fit and proper to continue to hold its broadcast licences,” the broadcasting regulator said in a statement.
“As part of this ongoing assessment, Ofcom has contacted News Group Newspapers requesting documents which it understands are held by the company and which may be relevant to this assessment. BSkyB is party to this correspondence.”
The watchdog is also investigating Sky News, which is run by BSkyB, after it admitted hacking emails.