Video: Leveson Inquiry: Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt denies being a 'cheerleader for the Murdochs' Earlier, James Murdoch denied that he tried to use political influence to steer through the takeover of BSkyB but emails shown to the Leveson Inquiry revealed secret collusion between Jeremy Hunt and NewsCorp. The media empire controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his son was given near-daily updates by email from Mr Hunt's office, while the Culture Secretary was in charge of scrutinising the takeover. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. was forced to abandon its £7.4m bid to take full control of the pay TV group last year after revelations that the News of the World tabloid had illegally hacked into phone messages on an industrial scale. At a judicial inquiry into press ethics set up after the scandal, James was questioned at length on his handling of the affair and his dealings with the government. He revealed extremely close ties with the minister responsible for the final decision on the BSkyB takeover, Jeremy Hunt. Hunt refused to be drawn on the subject when cameras caught up with him and said he would make a full statement after reading the evidence. I'm going to be making a statement later this afternoon, so. I need to read through all the evidence that's been submitted then I'll make a statement," he said as he also denied being a "cheerleader" for the Murdochs.