Hunt to make Commons statement

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is to make a statement to Parliament about his part in the News Corporation bid to take over BSkyB after the release of a cache of emails sparked demands for his resignation.

Mr Hunt will address MPs in the House of Commons later, said his Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The Culture Secretary insisted he had behaved "scrupulously fairly" as he fought for his political life over claims that he secretly backed News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch's attempt to buy the 61% of the satellite broadcaster which his company did not own.

Labour leader Ed Miliband accused him of "acting as a back-channel" for the Murdochs after emails from News Corp executive Frederic Michel were released by the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.

The messages appeared to show regular and intensive contact with Mr Hunt's office during the period when he was in a quasi-judicial role deciding whether the bid should go ahead.

Labour said the emails showed Mr Hunt passed secret information to News Corp and misled Parliament over the extent of his contacts with the company.

The Tory Cabinet minister told reporters: "I made my position very clear, I am going to be making a very, very determined effort to show that I behaved with total integrity and conducted this process scrupulously fairly."

He wrote to Lord Justice Leveson asking for his appearance before the inquiry to be brought forward to the earliest possible date to allow him to give his version of events.

©Press Association
Video: ©Sky News