Alex Salmond is the current first minister of Scotland and a member of the Scottish National Party. According to Michel’s emails to James, Mr. Salmond indicated a willingness to intervene with Jeremy Hunt in an attempt to bolster News Corp.’s bid for BSkyB. Michel wrote in one email that Salmond "was keen to see if he could help smooth the way for the process", referring to the BSkyB takeover bid. He also wrote that a Salmond adviser said the minister would contact Hunt about the BSkyB deal "whenever we need him to."
The emails from Salmond came not long after the editor-in-chief of News Corp.’s Scottish Sun told Salmond that the Sun would be backing him in elections. Salmond’s office denied that it had contacted News Corp. to express support for the BSkyB bid, though he admits that he did believe the bid should go forward.
