UK Olympic minister refuses to step down

The British minister due to oversee the London Olympics this summer has insisted he will stay in his role amid fresh pressure for him to quit over alleged collusion with Rupert Murdoch’s companies. A spokeswoman for Jeremy Hunt, whose role as minister for culture, media and sport includes responsibility for this year’s Olympic Games in London, said he would “vindicate” his position when he appears at an inquiry into press  ethics. An e-mail handed to the inquiry by Rebekah Brooks, former head of Murdoch’s British newspaper firm News International, appeared to show Hunt’s office seeking advice from Murdoch’s side on handling the phone hacking scandal that has engulfed the firm. “This is absolutely not acceptable,” opposition Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman told BBC radio on Friday. “How much more evidence does (Prime Minister) David Cameron need that this man is not fit to hold this high office?” The e-mail from Frederic Michel, a lobbyist for Murdoch’s News Corporation, to Brooks said that the minister wanted the firm to “guide his and Number 10’s positioning” on the scandal, and that he would try to avoid a public inquiry. It also indicated accurately that Hunt would play down the impact of the phone hacking revelations on a bid by News Corp. to win full control of lucrative satellite broadcaster BSkyB. Hunt has insisted that Michel’s only contacts were with his special adviser Adam Smith, who has already resigned over his “inappropriate” communications with Murdoch firms. Hunt’s spokeswoman said he would respond fully when he gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry into press ethics, which was sparked by the phone hacking scandal and where he is expected to appear in the coming weeks. “He is confident his evidence will vindicate the position that he has behaved with integrity on every issue,” she said. More than 40 people have been arrested in a police investigation into phone hacking at Murdoch-owned newspapers and a linked probe into illicit payments to police and public officials. The scandal has also prompted a furious debate over the close relations between politicians and the media. Hunt is set to preside over the London Olympic Games starting on July 27. Brooks gave her eagerly-awaited testimony to the inquiry on Friday, in which she described the closeness of her relationship with Prime Minister David Cameron. He signed text messages to her “lots of love”, privately discussed the News of the World scandal with her, and commiserated her after she stepped down as the phone-hacking affair at the News International weekly tabloid exploded. But despite such details, newspapers turned the spotlight once again on Hunt, whose adviser resigned last month after admitting that he had gone beyond his remit in his dealings with Michel, in e-mails that emerged when Murdoch’s son James testified to the inquiry. Hunt has rejected calls to quit and says that when he is mentioned in Michel’s emails the lobbyist is referring to aides in his Department for Culture, Media and Sport ministry, and not to him. Brooks was arrested two days after her resignation over allegations of phone-hacking and bribing public officials. She and her husband were also arrested in March on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. As the inquiry probed the extent of the ties between Murdoch and 10 Downing Street, Brooks said she used to exchange text messages around once a week with Cameron, rising to twice a week in the run-up to the 2010 general election. “He would sign them off DC in the main,” said Brooks, giggling slightly. “Occasionally he would sign them off ‘LOL’—‘lots of love’—until I told him it meant ‘laugh out loud’,” the red-haired 43-year-old said.She said Cameron asked her about phone hacking during a conversation in 2010, after a series of celebrities sued the News of the World over the interception of their mobile phone voicemails. The Independent newspaper yesterday called on Hunt to quit and said the inquiry had turned up conclusive evidence of overly-cosy relationships between politicians and the media. “There can no longer be any doubt of the inappropriate proximity of the political classes and News International,” its editorial said. “From the friendships, to the text messages, to the social dinners at which matters of high politics and high business were discussed; the picture is painted of a world where the lines between the professional and the personal are altogether blurred. “Hunt cannot cling on any longer. He must resign. And the uncomfortable revelations from the Leveson Inquiry must continue until the Augean stables are finally swept clean.” The Daily Telegraph newspaper called for all ministerial texts and email contacts with News International to be put in the public domain. “Friendship is one thing; but the impression left by Mrs Brooks’ lengthy testimony to the Leveson Inquiry was of a chumminess that went beyond what might have been expected between a prime minister and a senior media executive. “Not for the first time in this saga, we were left with an uneasy feeling that the full picture has not been revealed.” In her testimony, Brooks said The Sun newspaper had permission from Gordon Brown in 2006 to break the news that his baby son Fraser had cystic fibrosis, and would not have run the story without it. She said the source was a man whose own son had the condition. But in a statement afterwards, the former prime minister and his wife said there was still no “satisfactory explanation” as to how the News International daily tabloid obtained such information. “The idea that we would have volunteered our permission or were happy that a story about our son’s health was about to enter the public domain is untrue,” they added.