Cameron: There was no "grand bargain" with Murdoch David Cameron discussed News Corp's bid to buy BSkyB with James Murdoch while ministers were deciding whether to approve it, the prime minister has admitted. Mr Cameron told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme he discussed the bid with the News Corp deputy chief operating officer during a dinner on 23rd December, 2010 at the house of Rebekah Brooks, who was chief executive of the company's newspaper arm at the time. But the prime minister insisted he talked only about the role of Vince Cable, the business secretary who had just been forced to surrender his role in judging the bid, rather than the details of the process itself. Mr Cameron said: "What I recall at that dinner [is that] it came a couple of days after the business secretary had had to resign from this part of his job... I recall saying something like, "Clearly that was unacceptable, it is embarrassing for the government. From now on, this whole issue will be dealt with impartially, properly and in the correct way."" The prime minister denied there was a deal that the Murdochs would ensure their newspapers backed the Conservatives at the 2010 election if Mr Cameron guaranteed the BSkyB bid went through. He said: "The idea there was a grand bargain between me and Rupert Murdoch: that's not true." He added that his conversation with James Murdoch was not inappropriate because he had nothing to do with the decision on whether to approve it, which had been passed to Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary. Mr Hunt was accused of being too close to News Corp after the publication of emails showing regular contact between Adam Smith, his special adviser, and Frederic Michel, a lobbyist for the company, while he was deliberating on the BSkyB bid. Mr Cameron is resisting calls for a parliamentary inquiry into Mr Hunt's behaviour. He said the culture secretary should answer to the Leveson Inquiry first, even though Lord Justice Leveson does not believe it is in his remit to pronounce on breaches of the ministerial code. But the prime minister said he would ask Sir Alex Allan, the independent adviser on ministerial behaviour, to investigate Mr Hunt if it emerged during the Leveson Inquiry that the culture secretary had not told the whole truth. Mr Cameron told Mr Marr: "If evidence comes out through this exhaustive inquiry and giving evidence under oath that he did breach the ministerial code then clearly that's an issue and I will act." Lord Justice Leveson is not due to report until the autumn, however, meaning Mr Hunt will avoid a parliamentary investigation for several months at least. But Mr Cameron gave relatively modest praise for Mr Hunt, a man who has been previously talked of as the next Conservative leader, but is now favourite with bookmakers to be the next minister to leave the cabinet. Asked whether he backed the culture secretary 100 per cent, Mr Cameron said: "I think he is doing a good job on culture and media, I think he is doing an excellent job on the Olympics. People deserve to have these things looked into properly.