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Jeremy Hunt has told colleagues that both he and his officials behaved properly in their relationships with James Murdoch and News Corporation. He believes that the evidence presented to the Leveson Inquiry today was one person's inaccurate account of contacts between the company and his political adviser.

Mr Hunt was publicly sympathetic to News Corp's bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting before he was the minister in charge of overseeing the process. However, he has always insisted that once responsibility was transferred to his department from the Business Department he set up "a rock solid process" which ensured that at all times ministers followed independent advice from the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, and the Office of Fair Trading.

The culture secretary will issue a short statement later, but is asking the Leveson Inquiry for an early opportunity to give evidence to them on oath. Jeremy Hunt was due to give evidence along with other politicians, including the prime minister, next month.