James Murdoch 'discussed BSkyB bid with friend George Osborne'

Mr Murdoch told the Leveson Inquiry he and his family had visited the Chancellor’s weekend retreat, Dorneywood, and he is known to have dined with Mr Osborne on other occasions. Asked whether they had discussed the BSkyB bid, Mr Murdoch said: “I think I had one discussion where it might have come up during the process, which would have just been to be grumpy about it taking a long time and being referred to Ofcom, which I was very clear in public about at the same time.” In his witness statement, Mr Murdoch suggested the conversation happened on Nov 29, 2010, when Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, was still in charge of scrutinising the bid. The inquiry was also told of an email from Mr Murdoch’s lobbyist Frederic Michel in Nov 2010 that said Rupert Harrison, a special adviser to Mr Osborne had “confirmed tensions in the Coalition around Vince Cable and his current policy positions”