Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt insisted today he had behaved "scrupulously fairly" as he fought for his political life over claims that he secretly backed News Corporation's bid to take over satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
The Tory Cabinet minister told reporters as he left his home that he was going to be making a "very, very determined" effort to show that he acted with "total integrity" in his conduct of the process of deciding whether to approve the deal.
"I made my position very clear, I am going to be making a very, very determined effort to show that I behaved with total integrity and conducted this process scrupulously fairly," he said.
Mr Hunt's remarks come after he requested an early date at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards to give evidence after claims that emails released yesterday showed that he acted as a "cheerleader" for the News Corp bid.
Labour leader Ed Miliband called for Mr Hunt to resign, accusing him of "acting as a back-channel" for the Murdochs.
The row is set to intensify today as Labour prepares to face down David Cameron over the allegations at Prime Minister's Questions.
Mr Cameron's own links to the Murdochs will also come under the spotlight following yesterday's evidence from James Murdoch at the inquiry.
The News Corp executive revealed that he and the Prime Minister had briefly discussed the BSkyB bid in December 2010 - two days after Business Secretary Vince Cable was stripped of his decision-making power on the takeover.
