Resignation due.

After Jeremy Hunt's evidence at the Leveson Inquiry yesterday and the documentation that also became available it is difficult to see how the Culture Secretary can possibly remain in office unless this government thinks it has a dispensation to be less concerned about conflicts of interest than is usual in Whitehall. On the morning of 21 December 2010 Mr Hunt sent a text to James Murdoch about the EU Commission's decision that it had no objection on competitive grounds to the proposed Murdoch take-over of BSkyB.

The text read: “Great and congrats on Brussels. Just Ofcom to go.” At that precise moment Mr Hunt had no formal responsibility for the BSkyB case, although he had been meddling in it for some time; however, it would be given to him officially later in the day by the prime minister, replacing Vince Cable following his unwise comment that he was “at war with Murdoch”.

The text made clear Hunt was already in close contact with Mr Murdoch; the reference to Ofcom was to the probable obstacle to the Murdoch bid for BSkyB by the UK regulator Ofcom. Three months later, when a conditional go-ahead was negotiated with Ofcom, Mr Murdoch texted Mr Hunt, “Big few days. Well played” to which Mr Hunt replied after two minutes, “Thanks think we got the right solution:” That said it all.