Cameron told the committee that his government consulted its lawyers and acted properly in appointing Hunt to oversee the government's response to the bid. He said careful review was needed because the takeover bid raised serious public policy questions about media plurality.
He has defended Hunt from charges that he was too close to James Murdoch and provided the company with inside information about the vetting process.
"It was a perfectly rational decision, done with the advice of lawyers," Cameron said.
In a separate developments Thursday, Scotland Yard said it had arrested three people — including an ex-prison officer and a reporter from Murdoch's The Sun tabloid — in connection with an inquiry into alleged illegal payments made by newspapers to public officials.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, Britain's policing watchdog, also said that a superintendent from the City of London Police — which covers the capital's financial district — was arrested Thursday on suspicion of passing unauthorized information to a journalist. It did not offer further details of the alleged offense.
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