The Labour Party has called for Jeremy Hunt to resign amid allegations that he secretly backed News Corporation's bid to takeover BskyB while he was supposed to be an impartial adjudicator.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon, Harriet Harman said Hunt had fallen "woefully short of the standards expected by this office and the public interest".

"The secretary of state assured the House that in respect of the News Corporation bid for BSkyB he was acting as secretary of state in a quasi-judicial capacity, and above all, in a way that was impartial and fair," she said.

She added: "I believe, on a point of order, that the right thing for the secretary of state to do would be to come to this House to offer an apology and tender his resignation."

Emails handed to the Leveson inquiry into press ethics suggest Hunt's office was communicating with News Corporation while he was in charge of approving or rejecting the companies bid to buy BSkyB.