Adam Smith, special adviser to Jeremy Hunt and News Corporation’s key contact within his office, has resigned from his post. Smith is clearly falling on his sword to protect the minister, whose future looks uncertain after the publication of emails yesterday which revealed the extent of contact between Hunt’s office and News Corp during negotiations over the BSkyB bid.
Here is his resignation statement in full:
While it was part of my role to keep News Corporation informed throughout the BSkyB bid process, the content and extent of my contact was done without authorisation from the Secretary of State. I do not recognise all of what Fred Michel said, but nonetheless I appreciate that my activities at times went too far and have, taken together, created the perception that News Corporation had too close a relationship with the department, contrary to the clear requirements set out by Jeremy Hunt and the permanent secretary that this needed to be a fair and scrupulous process. Whilst I firmly believe that the process was in fact conducted scrupulously fairly, as a result of my activities it is only right for me to step down as special adviser to Jeremy Hunt.
Whether this is enough to save Hunt – who still has the backing of Downing Street – remains to be seen.
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