George Osborne Denies "Vast Conspiracy."

George Osborne told the Leveson Enquiry today that there was no "vast conspiracy" to hand BSkyB to Rupert Murdoch and denied that he had any idea what either Jeremy Hunt or David Cameron thought about it all. "It wasn't a vast conspiracy," he said. "In fact it was a small grubby one. I really don't understand why people believe that members of the same government ever speak to each other. Its not as if we've anything in common or anything worth talking about. When we fell into government by accident we had one meeting in which we decided to grab as much for ourselves and screw the peasants and that was it. Policy decided, job done. As for Andy Coulson we asked him if he was guilty of anything, he said "no" and, in the light of such overwhelming evidence, we gave him the job. Who would believe that a man who would hack a dead girl's mobile and commit perjury would also prove to be a liar? When it came to my various meetings with the Murdoch's we never talked about anything that was interesting or important. In fact both Rupert and James Murdoch were incredibly dull people who seemed to have no interest in anything at all. As you've seen they weren't even interested in their own business interests and rarely had even a vague notion of what was going on. They would have made brilliant Tory politicians to be honest."

U-Turn, Diversion Or Grubby Climb Down?

While Jeremy Hunt was doing his best to appear innocent at the Leveson Enquiry, George Osbourne suddenly announced that he was reversing his policy on capping donations to charity. It was immediately seized on by the press as an example of an obvious diversionary tactic to take the heat out of Hunt's appearance. Meanwhile David Cameron has reiterated his position that Hunt's behaviour will not be investigated by Sir Alex Allen, his adviser on the ministerial code. But, of course, all of this was quickly noticed by the press who have put two and two together and made twenty-two. What slipped most of them by was another story that caused fewer ripples in this rather stagnant pond. This was the story that John Moulton the venture capitalist and a major "donator" to the Tory party was going to cut the purse strings in retaliation over the charity cap. Now why, you might ask, would he do that? After all he couldn't possibly be engaged in some sort of charity scam that enabled him to dodge tax liabilities could he? No, he says, its because it will hurt charities. The major charities, however, have pointed out that they rarely receive donations that even begin to approach the cap and that most of their money comes from small donations given by ordinary people. Strangely enough Mr.Moulton is also calling for even greater austerity and doesn't seem to mind too much about the damage that would inflict on ordinary people or the liklihood that would damage donations to charities to an even greater degree. As for George Osbourne's decision to reverse the cap, that couldn't possibly have anything to do with £300,000 that Mr.Moulton has donated to the Tories since 2004 - could it?

Nod And A Wink Politics.

Adam Smith, appearing at the Leveson Enquiry, has given us all an insight into how political decisions are reached in this country. Essentially its all done on a nod and a wink. The story of how Mr.Smith ended up before the enquiry is illuminating to say the least. The government originally appointed Vince Cable to oversee Murdoch's bid to get his hands on the rest of BSkyB but it soon became apparent that Vince wasn't too sympathetic and Rupert Murdoch was not pleased. Enter two young female journalists who cajole Vince into admitting on tape that he did not approve of Murdoch and that he had "declared war" on him. Revealed as being "partisan" poor old Vince was forced to resign. Enter Jeremy Hunt, who had been lobbying David Cameron for months to allow the bid to go forward, and who was now appointed by that same David Cameron to act as an "impartial" judge to replace Vince Cable. There then follows a series of emails between News International and someone in the government who signed the emails "JH." These make it abundantly clear that NI and the Cameron government are in cahoots to get the deal through no matter what the objections against it. When this is revealed Jeremy Hunt denies all knowledge and tells us all that his advisor, Adam Smith, is the guilty party and that he was acting without Hunt's knowledge or permission. So now we have Adam Smith giving evidence to the Leveson Enquiry telling us that he often used the initials "JH" for no particular reason and often appearing to not know his own emails too well. One thing is abundantly plain, however, and that is the whole process was both fishy and, at the same time, that the realtionship between the Cameron government and Murdoch was far too cosy to be labelled "impartial." One of the most important decisions for this country in terms of the future of the media was effectively being progressed on a nod and a wink, something that this government does in far too many spheres touching on our national ineterests. Treachery is not too strong a word.

Rebekah Brooks: Now The Whinging Begins.

We've had the quiet and dignified Rebekah Brooks and, at the Leveson Enquiry, we've had the confident but sadly ill-informed Rebekah Brooks. Now, with news that she is to be charged with perverting the course of justice, we have the whinging Rebekah Brooks. Let down by her friends (she means Cameron), subjected to a "witch hunt" that she was only too willing to inflict on others and unable to explain where her files and laptop have disappeared to, she is now reduced to suggesting that her prosecution is "an expensive side-show." Professing to be "baffled" by the charges which she sees as the "result of an unjust and weak decision," she cannot understand the concept of taking responsibility for the way in which she allowed her staff to break the law on an industrial scale. Rather she sees herself as having "no involvement with the central issues," an innocent who was happy to wield the power and happy to take the money but is now trying to make us all believe that she had absolutely no idea what her job was supposed to be or what those who worked for her were doing. Of course in News International she was hardly alone. No one from Rupert Murdoch down, it seems, had any grasp of the business they were in and absolutely no idea of what all those strange people who surrounded them were up to. Sounds like any other highly paid executive to me.

Cameron Terrified Of Leveson Enquiry.

David Cameron seems to be visibly mortified by the Leveson Enquiry which, it seems, intends to be even handed after all and has declared that it is not in the business of protecting Tories. As Jeremy Hunt's threadbare excuses have worn even thinner and details of both Cameron's and Osborne's rather cosy relationship with Rebekah Brookes has been revealed it is dawning on Dim Dave that he might be in trouble too. Given the sorry account he made of himself in relation to Coulson this is hardly surprising. He's already requested that he appears at the Enquiry after Tony Blair so he can point the finger at Labour and, hopefully, divert attention away from himself. “It’s all he thinks about,” said a source close to the Prime Minister. “He’s terrified of getting somthing wrong, or being caught off guard. He knows that if he fluffs his appearance it could be devastating.” Caught off guard? Can they mean he might inadvertently tell the truth or stumble over the lies he intends to tell? Perish the thought.

News International Sees Off Critics.

It seems we all have it wrong after all. Not only is Rupert Murdoch a "fit and proper person," this saintly old man has sacrificed his life in the interests of his papers readers and the persuit of truth. As Rebekah Wade pointed out papers such as the Sun have striven to tell those stories and only ever expressed those opinions that its readers approved of. As for hacking, that was perpetrated by a few naughty journalists who completely misunderstood the business ethos of their managers whose only wish was to serve the public interest. Nor do the executive management of News International bear any responsibility since it is completely unreasonable to expect them to actually manage. No, they were far too busy attending various birthday parties during which politicians, more or less unnoticed, drifted in and out and spoke to no one about anything in particular. Very confusing, especially when politicians and their advisors use each other's initials willy nilly and apparently had no idea what each other think or do. Secret meetings between News International executives and politicians were actually completely open and above board and were only "secret" inasmuch as no one else knew about them. Nothing fishy there then.

Jeremy Hunt Investigates Himself.

After David Cameron announced that he will not allow his adviser on the ministerial code, Sir Alex Allan, to investigate whether Jeremy Hunt broke the code, Hunt is handing over all his emails and letters to the Leveson Enquiry who will report their findings directly to him. "I am determined that this matter will be thoroughly investigated," he told our reporter, "and, after I've reviewed the evidence, I will be announcing my complete innocence as soon as possible." Meanwhile George Osborne has moved into the frame when it was revealed that he was "very keen" for Jeremy Hunt to take on the job of scrutinising the Murdoch scandal when Vince Cable was ousted from the position after Murdoch lobbied Osbourne to get rid of him. We asked George Osborne to explain what was going on; "The whole Murdoch scandal was played out under Labour and when Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were in No.10. The secret meetings that Tory Prime Ministers, including Margaret Thatcher (Blessed Be Her Name), John Major and my mate Dave, had with Murdoch were entirely innocent and had absolutely nothing to do with Mr.Murdoch's media business interests. It is my understanding that Mrs Thatcher was only interested in talking about Mr.Murdoch's stamp collection, John Major talked to him about cricket and David, in order to understand common people, was only really interested in Murdoch's box collection of "Eastenders." As for Jeremy, apart from the fact that I don't know him at all, he retains the government's complete confidence as long as he can continue to pretend that none of this has anything to do with him."