The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was facing calls to resign this week after evidence uncovered in the Leveson inquiry appeared to show a "back channel" operating improperly between his department and the offices of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
Hunt accepted the resignation of his special adviser and claimed that he had acted appropriately throughout the "quasi-judicial" process. None of this has stopped Ed Miliband questioning the prime minister's judgment in allowing Hunt to stay in his job. The Labour leader wondered aloud if Hunt was acting as a "firewall" for Cameron, who faces questions on his own dealings with News International executives.
Meanwhile, Britain suffered its second successive quarter of negative growth - the technical definition of a recession. The much feared "double dip" has struck and with important local elections to fight next week, it could hardly have come at a worse time for the government.
And in France, the leftwing presidential candidate François Hollande is in the ascendency after claiming a first-round victory over Nicolas Sarkozy. However, a stronger-than-expected showing from the far right candidate leaves the race in the balance as the two main candidates face off in the second round next week.
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Politics Weekly will return on Friday next week with a full programme of results and analysis from all the UK's local elections.
