Hints of Collusion Between News Corp. and British Minister

Posted: 4/24/2012  |  By: John F. Burns and Alan Cowell | New York Times

LONDON — The long-running tabloid newspaper scandal that has shaken Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire appeared on Tuesday to have reached into the heart of Prime Minister David Cameron’s government, with evidence at a judicial inquiry suggesting that a senior cabinet minister, or at least an aide claiming to speak for him, worked covertly to help win approval for a $12-billion takeover of the BSkyB network, a deal that would have crowned Mr. Murdoch’s 60-year media career.

The disclosures pointing to a hand-in-glove collaboration between Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation and Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt came in a sheaf of e-mails that the inquiry subpoenaed from a Murdoch lobbyist.