Clegg puts the boot into Murdoch’s BSkyB bid

What Jeremy Hunt’s letter this morning started, Nick Clegg has just finished. Thanks to the Deputy Prime Minister, it is now even clearer that the coalition is reluctant for Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB deal to go ahead. “Look how people feel about this, look how the country has reacted with revulsion to the revelations,” he exhorted in interview with the Beeb, “so do the decent and sensible thing and reconsider, think again about your bid for BSkyB.” The question now is what’s meant by that “reconsider” — whether it means the government is pushing for a delay, or for Murdoch to drop the bid altogether. But, either way, it’s several degrees firmer than anything they’ve said previously.

Whether this closes off yet another avenue of attack for Ed Miliband, I’m not sure — the Labour leader could still go ahead with his vote on Wednesday, to expose exactly who thinks what about the BSkyB takeover. Although the potency of that plan has certainly been diluted. The position of both government and opposition now appears to be broadly similar: the deal shouldn’t go ahead, if it can be helped. And both sides maintain that it would be easiest were Murdoch to pull out of the deal himself. With the political and business metrics set so firmly against him, it wouldn’t be too surprising were the media magnate to do precisely that.

UPDATE: Ed Miliband has now called on Murdoch to drop the bid completely, which goes further than his previous demand for a delay. The political leap-froggery continues apace.

UPDATE 2: I stand corrected. Miliband actually called for Murdoch to drop the bid completely in his Marr interview yesterday. Here’s the relevant part of the transcript:

ANDREW MARR: I asked you earlier on what you wanted from the Prime Minister. When Rupert Murdoch gets off his plane relatively shortly, what should he do? ED MILIBAND: Oh well I mean the first thing he should do is he should drop the bid for BSkyB because he should recognise that with the cloud hanging over his organisation, it’s not possible, I don’t think, for this bid to go ahead at the current time.