Jeremy Hunt faces fresh Murdoch collusion claims
Labour have stepped up their campaign for David Cameron to sack Jeremy Hunt after claims made in yesterday's Leveson Inquiry.
Hunt faces fresh questions after it was claimed that he wanted News Corporation to "guide his and Number 10's positioning" on phone hacking.
A newly-disclosed email from News Corporation's public affairs executive Fred Michel also boasts of a tip-off about an "extremely helpful" statement the Culture Secretary was making to Parliament on the BSkyB bid.
The allegations surfaced in material disclosed to the Leveson Inquiry by former News International boss Rebekah Brooks.
A message from Mr Michel to Mrs Brooks, dated June 27 2011, gave an apparent preview of what Mr Hunt would say about the BSkyB bid later that week.
Labour has stepped up demands for Hunt to be sacked following the disclosure. Labour deputy leader Harriet Harmon said:
A spokeswoman for Mr Hunt said he was "confident" his evidence will prove he acted with "integrity".
During her appearance at the Leveson Inquiry, Mrs Brooks also revealed details about her relationships with senior politicians including David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and George Osborne.
The former News International chief executive said that Mr Cameron would occasionally sign-off text messages with 'lol', meaning 'lots of love'. Mrs Brooks later told the Prime Minister that 'lol' usually means 'laugh out loud'.
Mrs Brooks also revealed the following details about her relationship with Mr Cameron:
Mrs Brooks said the Prime Minister expressed regret that he could not be more loyal publicly when she was forced to resign over the phone-hacking scandal.
She said Mr Cameron - along with Number 11, the Home and Foreign Office - indirectly sent his commiserations when she left News International, which was along the lines of "keep your head up".
They met "three or four times" from January 2010 to the General Election in May.
Mrs Brooks said she talked to Mr Cameron about phone hacking but could not remember the finer details.
She said the Prime Minister attended a Boxing Day party at her sister-in-law's.
Reports that Mr Cameron would text her 12 times a day were dismissed by Mrs Brooks who called the claims "preposterous".
Mrs Brooks said it was a "terrible accusation" from Gordon Brown to claim that they had hacked his family's health records to report his son had cystic fibrosis.
She said The Sun had received the story from a "shattered father", whose son also had cystic fibrosis, and were satisfied the information was gathered from legitimate means.
The relationship between the former Prime Minister and Mrs Brooks seemed more fractious than her friendship with Mr Cameron and Mr Blair, with the former Sun editor joking that Mr Brown would have "probably got the bunting out" when she resigned from News International.
On News Corp's attempted BSkyB's takeover bid, Mrs Brooks said she only had "brief and inconsequential" discussions with Mr Osborne.
She added that Mr Cameron was "not particularly supportive" of the BSkyB bid but he "understood why we wanted to put our side across".
The former News International executive also revealed her close relationship with Tony Blair who she dined with at least 30 times between 1998 and 2007, including three times tete-a-tete.
Mrs Brooks also revealed that the Blairs told her about their "concerns" over the Daily Mail, with Cherie saying the newspaper's coverage was "sexist" and "cruel".
In her statement, Mrs Brooks emphatically denied that these friendships were in any way untoward.
Mrs Brooks claimed that a lot of "gossipy" questions she was asked at the Leveson Inquiry - such as whether she went swimming with Mr Murdoch and if he bought her a suit - was "gender based".
She said "had she been a grumpy old man on Fleet Street" she would not have been asked about these sort of issues.