by Ray Fleming
Once again David Cameron's judgement is open to serious criticism. The focus after Thursday's Leveson Inquiry revelations may be on Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt but the buck stops on the prime minister's desk. In December 2010 he gave ministerial responsibility for the Murdoch bid for BSkyB shares to Mr Hunt. It seemed a reasonable decision but what no one knew -- not even the Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell who was consulted -- that previously Mr Hunt had sent the prime minister an e-mail strongly backing the Murdoch bid and saying it would be totally wrong to cave into the Mark Thompson (BBC Director General)/Channel 4/Guardian opposition to it. In fact the opposition included the Telegraph and Mail Groups.
Yesterday in a TV interview the prime minister defended his position, saying It isn't what Jeremy Hunt had said in the past, it was how he was going to do the job. The naivety of that comment is shocking.
He was giving an exceptionally sensitive decision of critical importance to major media organisations to a minister he knew had already made up his mind in favour of one side of the issue. It is irrelevant whether Mr Hunt was able to act impartially -- the point is that he should never have been asked to take on the task. Mr Hunt will give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry next Thursday.