Jeremy Hunt's 799 texts with Rupert Murdoch lobbyist One of the first texts after the bid was announced was sent on Aug 27, 2010. On Nov 9, Mr Hunt and Mr Michel tried to fix up a meeting with James Murdoch, then chairman of News International, which was cancelled after Mr Hunt was given legal advice counselling against it. Instead, Mr Hunt spoke to Mr Murdoch on his mobile phone, prompting a text from Mr Michel on Nov 16 that said: "Thanks for the call with James today, greatly appreciated." Mr Hunt replied: "Pleasure." Mr Hunt took over the brief in December 2010. On Christmas Eve, Mr Michel texted him to say: "Hi, James has asked me to be the point of contact with you. Glad Jon Zeff [the department's director of media] is in charge of dossier. Mr Hunt replied: "Thanks Fred. At the height of his worries over the bid, Mr Michel contacted the senior Downing Street aides, including one text message to Mr Harrison urging the Chancellor to intervene on News Corp's behalf. He made one more attempt to enlist Mr Harrison's support on July 10, 2011, days before the deal collapsed because of the phone hacking scandal.