JEREMY Hunt was accused of lying to MPs yesterday as a Labour demand for the Culture Secretary to be referred to the Prime Minister's independent adviser on ministerial standards over his handling of News Corporation's unsuccessful £8 billion bid for BSkyB failed.
During a stormy Commons debate, Tory MPs protested after Labour MP Chris Bryant called Mr Hunt a liar to his face – an accusation normally ruled out of order by the Speaker but allowed in the context of the particular motion.
Despite Nick Clegg's decision that Liberal Democrat MPs would abstain, Conservatives easily saw off the Labour challenge by a majority of 290 to 252.
The vote came after David Cameron told MPs Sir Alex Allan, his adviser, had written to him to say he could not "usefully add to the facts" in the Hunt case uncovered by the Leveson Inquiry into media standards.
Labour dismissed the Prime Minister's comments as an ineffective "smokescreen" and said his judgment in appointing Mr Hunt to the quasi-judicial role in the BSkyB bid was in question.
In the debate, the Secretary of State gave a robust defence, describing Labour allegations that he deliberately misled Parliament as "disgraceful".
He admitted he might have inadvertently provided incorrect information when he claimed to have released all his correspondence relating to the deal, but insisted he corrected the record at the earliest opportunity.
However, Mr Bryant accused him of lying by failing to disclose a memo he sent to Mr Cameron days before being given responsibility for the BSkyB bid, in which he argued the case for News Corp to be allowed to buy the 61% of the satellite broadcaster which it did not already own.
Mr Hunt denied having allowed his personal views to influence his impartial handling of the bid, telling MPs: "The real story of this bid was an insistence by me at several key stages on decisions that News Corp did not consider in their interests."
He added: "This was not an easy process, nor was it ever likely to command popular support, but the decisions taken were done so fairly, and my department deserves enormous credit as a result."
Mr Clegg's decision to tell his MPs not to join Tories in the No lobby sparked fury among some Tories. One, Swindon North's Justin Tomlinson, was hauled back from honeymoon to bolster numbers while Conor Burns left his hospital bed to vote.
A Twitter message from the Bournemouth MP read: "Out of my hospital bed and on way to HoC for vote so our Coalition partners can polish their consciences. Many of us won't forget this."
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