Publicly branded a liar, but Jeremy Hunt survives BSkyB vote

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt was branded “a liar” yesterday at Westminster as he survived a Commons’ vote on his handling of the BSkyB deal.

Despite Liberal Democrat deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s directing Lib-Dem MPs to abstain, Conservatives easily saw off the challenge by 290 to 252.

The vote came after David Cameron told MPs his adviser, Sir Alex Allan, had written to say he could not “usefully add to the facts” in the Hunt case uncovered by the Leveson Inquiry.

Labour dismissed teh PM’s comments as a “smokescreen” and said his judgment in appointing Mr Hunt to a quasi-judicial role in the BSkyB bid was in question. But there was uproar when Labour MP Chris Bryant intervened on Mr Hunt’s response and called him “a liar”.

The word “liar” is normally considered unparliamentary and MPs are forced to withdraw it, but Speaker John Bercow allowed the accusation to stand.

A shocked Mr Hunt demanded Mr Bryant provided evidence he “had deliberately misled the House” and described it as “a disgraceful accusation.”

He admitted he may have given incorrect information when he claimed to have released all his correspondence relating to the deal, but insisted he corrected the record at the earliest possible opportunity.

Mr Bryant argued he had lied by failing to disclose a memo which he sent to Mr Cameron days before being given responsibility for the BSkyB bid, in which he argued the case for News Corp to be allowed to buy up the 61 per cent of the satellite broadcaster it did not own.

Mr Hunt denied having allowed his personal views to influence his handling of the bid, telling MPs: “The real story of this bid was insistence by me at several key stages on decisions that News Corp did not consider in their interests. This was not an easy process, nor was it ever likely to command popular support; but the decisions taken were done so fairly.”

Mr Clegg also gave his strongest defence yet of the Culture Secretary, despite last night suggesting Mr Hunt should be subjected to a sleaze investigation.

Giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, Mr Clegg said: “On the specific point on how he handled the bid to make sure that he was insulated from accusations of allowing personal bias to drive the process, I think he has given a full, good and convincing account to this inquiry.”

The Lib-Dem leader’s decision to tell his MPs not to join Tories in the No lobby for last night’s vote sparked tensions within the coalition.

One MP – Swindon’s Justin Tomlinson – was called back from honeymoon, while Conor Burns left his hospital bed to vote. The resentment felt by some Tories was reflected in a tweet from the Bournemouth West MP: “Out of my hospital bed for vote so coalition partners can polish their consciences. Many of us won’t forget this.”

Mr Cameron insisted he understood the decision to abstain, telling MPs: “What we are talking about here is the relationships Conservative politicians, and frankly Labour politicians, have had over the last 20 years with News Corporation, News International and all the rest of it.

“To be fair to the Liberal Democrats, they didn’t have that relationship and their abstention tonight is to make that point and I understand that. It’s politics.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Cameron was refusing to refer Mr Hunt to his adviser “because he is scared the Culture Secretary won’t be cleared”. “It is no longer about the Culture Secretary’s judgment. It is about the Prime Minister’s judgment, which is so deeply flawed even his deputy won’t support him.”