Ned Simons

Jeremy Hunt wrote to David Cameron to urge him to intervene in favour of News Corporation's bid for BSkyB despite having been warned not to by the civil service, the Leveson inquiry has heard.

On 19 November 2010 the culture secretary told the prime minister that business secretary...

Jeremy Hunt's former special adviser Adam Smith has insisted that he did not give News Corporation any "inappropriate" inside information about its bid to take control of BSkyB.

Smith resigned in April over allegations that he had been too close to News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel and admitted at the...

Jeremy Hunt will give evidence on how he handled News Coporation's wish to take over BSkyB when he appears before the Leveson inquiry on Thursday.

The culture secretary faces renewed calls to resign from Labour after it was revealed that he lobbied the prime minister to support the...

Tony Blair will appear before the Leveson inquiry into press ethics on Monday, it has been announced.

The former Labour prime minister is likely to be quizzed over whether he was too close to Rupert Murdoch and News International during his time in office.

On Monday Lord Mandelson acknowledged that...

David Cameron knew Jeremy Hunt was supportive of News Corporation's desire to takeover BSkyB when he appointed him to oversee the bid, the Leveson inquiry heard.

Hunt drafted a letter to Cameron in November 2010 warning the prime minister that blocking News Corporation's bid would cause the UK media...

The suggestion that the civil service could be cut by up to 90% is not the policy of the prime minister or "anyone else in Number 10", the cabinet secretary has insisted.

In what could be interpreted as a final swipe at David Cameron's director of strategy Steve Hilton, who...

David Cameron was forced to withdraw angry remarks made towards Ed Balls in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon after he called the shadow chancellor a "muttering idiot".

Balls spends much of prime minister's questions trying to wind up the prime minister by heckling him from across the chamber...

Lib Dem equalities minister Lynne Featherstone, who is in charge of government plans to introduce gay marriage, has received a special supportive gift from ice cream makers Ben & Jerry's.

In March the company re-named their 'Oh! My! Apple Pie!' flavour 'Apple-y ever after' in support of coalition's proposals to...

Adam Smith, Jeremy Hunt's former special adviser who was forced to quit after admitting he had inappropriate contact with News International, will give evidence to the Leveson inquiry on Friday 25 May.

Smith will appear on the same day as Frederic Michel, News Corporation's chief lobbyist, who is at the...

David Cameron has been told to ignore his more right-wing backbenchers and introduce legislation legalising gay marriage as soon as possible.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Labour's Angela Eagle said it was important to bring in the planned change soon to avoid leaving couples "in limbo".

Joey Barton, the QPR footballer charged with two acts of violent conduct following his sending-off during his team’s end-of-season game against Manchester City, has won support from someone equally handy at looking after himself - Falkirk MP Eric Joyce.

The controversial midfielder saw red for elbowing Carlos Tevez with the...

Alastair Campbell has written to the Cabinet Secretary to complain that David Cameron "slurred" him during prime minister's questions.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the prime minister dismissed an attempt by a Labour MP to question whether his former communications director Andy Coulson had access to top-secret...

David Cameron has insisted he is "not complacent" on the economy after statistics revealed UK unemployment fell by 45,000 to 2.63 million between January and March.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Cameron said there were "still too many people in part time work who want full time work".

Rupert Murdoch liked to "play with political leaders" by tempting them with the possibility that his newspapers would support them, Jack Straw has said.

Giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry into press ethics on Wednesday morning, the former cabinet minister said he thought Murdoch thought his political influence would be...

Britain should ditch the "confusing shambles" of using both Imperial and metric systems of measurements for different things, a former chancellor of the exchequer has said.

Lord Howe of Aberavon, who served under Margaret Thatcher, said the British system of weights and measures were "in a mess" and gave...

Barack Obama may have the nuclear launch codes at his finger tips, but visitors to the White House should know to watch out for one of his more powerful weapons, snappy witticisms.

Speaking at a ceremony to welcome Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy following their third league victory, Obama...

The decision to strip Fred Goodwin of his knighthood following the near-collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland was a "terrible mistake", Alistair Darling has said.

Giving evidence to MPs on Tuesday morning, the former chancellor said there was "a bit of the lynch mob" about the way the former...

Alistair Campbell has said New Labour would have been "crazy" not to try and court the Murdoch press in the run up to the 1997 general election, but has rejected the suggestion any sort of deal was done.

Giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry on Monday, Tony Blair's former communications...

Jeremy Hunt's office sought private guidance on how the government should deal with the phone hacking scandal from News Corporation - the company that owned News of the World, it has been alleged.

The claim was made by the firm's head of public affairs, Fred Michel, in an email sent...

Rebekah Brooks has admitted it was a mistake for The Sun newspaper to attack Gordon Brown for misspelling a soldier's name in a handwritten note sent to the family.

In January 2009 the tabloid published a picture of a letter in which the-then prime minister referred to the...