Alex Salmond aides tried to set up phone call with Jeremy Hunt

ALEX SALMOND’S office made repeated calls to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to try to arrange a conversation between him and the First Minister, it has emerged.

It was suggested during the Leveson Inquiry last week that Mr Salmond might have been prepared to intervene on behalf of Rupert Murdoch and lobby Mr Hunt on News Corp’s proposed takeover of the broadcaster BSkyB.

Mr Salmond denies any wrong-doing, describing the suggestion that he would contact the Culture Secretary as “e-mail tittle-tattle”.

Last night, Mr Hunt claimed Mr Salmond’s office had made repeated requests for a telephone conversation, despite the Culture Secretary having already taken up the quasi-judicial role in deciding whether the bid for BSkyB should be referred to the Competition Commission.

In a written parliamentary answer, he said: “Mr Salmond’s office contacted mine to request a telephone call on March 3, 2011, and again a number of times in the following days.

“However, I can confirm that no such call took place or was ever scheduled.”

Last night, shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran said: “This is an extraordinary development. For days Alex Salmond has been trying to hide his lobbying on behalf of BSkyB.

“Now we see … he became a frenetic lobbyist in favour of the BSkyB deal, begging for telephone calls with the Culture Secretary.”