Culture Secretary was warned to 'do nothing' to influence Murdoch's bid for broadcaster

No 10 press secretary revealed to have exchanged texts as Dowler scandal raged

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told his special adviser to quit after highly damaging emails revealing the close relationship between his department and the Murdoch empire were released, the former aide said.

Prime Minister David Cameron has defended giving Jeremy Hunt responsibility for the decision on News Corporation's takeover of BSkyB.

The political scandal over Rupert Murdoch's battle to buy BSkyB moved closer to David Cameron last night after new evidence undermined the Prime Minister's claim that his Government was scrupulously even-handed in deciding on the £8bn deal.

Devastating memo shown to Leveson Inquiry puts PM in line of fire

A senior civil servant at the heart of the controversy over links between News Corporation and the office of Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on Friday, it was announced today.

Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld has won this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The Israeli author, who shares the £10,000 award with his translator Jeffrey M Green, is the first writer in Hebrew to take the leading British honour for fiction in translation and, 80 this year, he is also the oldest winner

More than 200,000 11-year-olds quit primary school every year unable to swim, according to a report out today.

George Osborne is under increasing pressure to appear in person at the Leveson Inquiry following the disclosure of further evidence of his close links to the Murdoch empire.

Petrol stations are not known for fuelling aesthetic enlightenment (think more financial ruin, as we watch our money flow away in a blur of digits) but there was a time when filling up required a sophisticated setting.

Downing Street has reacted to increasing panic that the Conservative leadership is being damaged by revelations at the Leveson Inquiry about its dealings with the Murdoch empire. Yesterday it demanded that senior ministers be allowed to see potentially incendiary evidence from Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson.

David Cameron is facing a showdown over News Corporation which could see Conservative MPs forced to vote on whether to censure three of Rupert Murdoch's senior lieutenants accused of misleading Parliament.

I write in a state of high anticipation a few hours before a scheduled trip, with an officially adolescent family member, to see Avengers Assemble. In this warmly reviewed film, an alliance of Marvel superheroes is formed to save the world from a malevolent Norse god. Iron Man leads an all-star team featuring Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and the Black Widow, but the figure I expect to find most intriguing is the Hulk. Any character who instantly metamorphoses from a placid, genial man into a raging maniac must have special resonance for the student of Westminster life.