Jeremy Hunt to disclose emails with adviser as pressure rises over BSkyB Jeremy Hunt said he was confident the emails would 'vindicate that I handled the BSkyB merger process with total propriety'. Jeremy Hunt, the embattled culture secretary, is to disclose private correspondence with his special adviser over the BSkyB takeover deal to the Leveson inquiry. Hunt said he would disclose private emails and text messages sent to Adam Smith as Lord Oakeshott, the senior Liberal Democrat peer, joined the call by his party colleague Simon Hughes for David Cameron to refer the culture secretary to the independent adviser on the ministerial code, Sir Alex Allan. Smith resigned on Wednesday after admitting his contacts with a News Corporation lobbyist while the company was trying to take full control of Sky "at times went too far." "I will be handing over all my private texts and emails to my special adviser to the Leveson inquiry and I am confident they will vindicate that I handled the BSkyB merger process with total propriety," Hunt said. The culture secretary has faced mounting pressure since Tuesday, when the Leveson inquiry published more than 160 pages of emails between News Corp's European public affairs director, Frédéric Michel, and his boss, James Murdoch, detailing apparently extensive contact between Hunt's office and the lobbyist at a time when Hunt was considering the company's £8bn bid for the 60.9% of BSkyB it did not already own. Hughes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, refused on Thursday night to back Hunt over the BSkyB affair. Appearing on BBC1's Question Time, Hughes said he could not understand why the prime minister had not referred the saga to be examined under the ministerial code of conduct. Oakeshott said on Thursday night that Hughes "speaks for all Lib Dems. We all agree with him. But Liberal Democrat officials representing Nick Clegg were less emphatic, saying "Nick shares Simon's desire to get to the truth. Whether through Leveson or another route is a question of process. The Conservatives argue that Leveson may not be able to rule on whether there has been a breach of the ministerial code since this is beyond the inquiry's terms of reference, but it can look at the evidence with which a judgment could be made. On Thursday, Hunt's most senior civil servant, Jonathan Stephens, refused 10 times before a parliamentary committee to either confirm or deny his alleged role in allowing Smith to speak to Michel. Hunt's Department for Culture, Media and Sport issued a statement late on Thursday night saying Stephens was "content" with the role played by Smith. Hunt has asked Leveson to allow him to give evidence to the inquiry earlier than scheduled in an attempt to head off the mounting controversy. The prime minister's spokesman has acknowledged that Leveson's terms of reference do not allow the inquiry to examine breaches of the ministerial code but says Cameron sees no reason to refer the issue to Allan. The shadow culture secretary, Harriet Harman, accused the prime minister of doing everything in his power to avoid an investigation: "Lord Leveson's inquiry is of huge importance, but it is not in its terms of reference to look into breaches of the ministerial code. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, claimed it was not credible to say Smith acted as "a lone wolf" without the knowledge of Hunt in repeatedly briefing News Corp on how the culture secretary wanted to help the company in its bid for BSkyB. The former leader of the Conservative party Lord Howard defended the culture secretary on Friday, saying he should not resign and everyone should wait for the Leveson inquiry to get "to the bottom of what happened." "The facts make it clear that Jeremy Hunt at every stage took independent advice and followed that independent advice," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. We should wait to hear every side of the story before coming to conclusion. Howard, a former home secretary, also said there was a danger in arguing that politicians be kept out all quasi-judicial processes such as the BSkyB bid. "Some people have suggested that these decisions should be taken from politicians and I wouldn't dismiss that suggestion out of hand but you've always got to remember that when you take decisions from elected politicians and give them to other people, so called independent people, you're losing an important element of accountability and accountability is at the heart of parliamentary democracy," he said.