The Leveson Inquiry returns tomorrow at 10am to hear evidence from Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

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Guardian's assistant editor Michael White (@MichaelWhite) has described KC's performance at the Leveson Inquiry as: "Mellow, worldly performance by Ken Clarke today on newspapers and pols. If only they were all so grown up"

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Online petition calling for David Cameron to fire Jeremy Hunt has reached over 60,000 signatures so far.

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A lot of people seem to be warming up to Ken Clarke, including @Muhamid_Pathan an ex MYP (Member of Youth Parliament) from Leicester said: "I thought Ken Clarke was pretty impressive at the Leveson inquiry. Didn't expect him to be that good"

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KC ackowledges the UK's tough libel laws: “At the moment it can have a chilling effect if the newspaper is writing about someone who is known to be litigious.”

He cites Robert Maxwell who left behind 150 defamation writs when he died and once told Clarke: "For me this is petty cash Kenneth, but you'd be betting the ranch, you know."

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Finance shouldn't play a large part in penalties, but sometimes the prominent apology would be a more valuable remedy.

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KC is not attracted to producing a litigious society because people are sensitive to things written about them and may lead to more people finding it easier to seek remedies.

KC acknowledges that politicians often have "bizarre" things being said about them on a daily basis and need a "pachyderm skin", and adds that local papers would find it difficult to deal with complaints as normal members of the public are not able to deal with certain things being said about them in the same way that politicians do.

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KC: Have been exploring third regulatory arm for small claim privacy, libel type actions, available to everybody to take up trivial complaints.

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KC: "History shows that without teeth, in the end you're wasting your time if some section of the printed media refuse to join."

Pointing out that the PCC is a voluntary body and that the Daily Express is not a member.

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#Leveson isn't trending on Twitter, however "Ken Clarke" and "Andy Coulson" have been today.

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KC: History shows that without teeth, in the end you're wasting your time, if some section of the printed media refuse to join.

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KC: "journalists are getting almost as sensitive as politicians who think nobody loves them any more"

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KC said "the PCC was a joke" and "completely useless".

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KC quizzed on what he meant by self-regulation. KC says he awaits the recommendation of the inquiry and is deeply suspicious of the state being in control and if it's self regulatory that regulator must be totally independent of the government and press, should have some authority and the ability to acquire media organisations to subject themselves to that authority and should impose financial penalties to practical effect.

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KC:newspaper campaigns usually based on v partial account of shocking high-profile cases

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Yesterday Jay quizzed Theresa May on "sensationalising" issues such as immigration, now Jay is quizzing KC on doing the same on the issue of crime.

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KC: "Don't think the Sun has ever had any great significant effect on the outcome of any election in my lifetime" in reference to "It's The Sun Wot Won It"

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Inquiry now turns to the "transactional relationship" between politicians and media proprietors.

KC reiterates point that it depends on how you define "transactional"

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BBC's Political Correspondent Vicki Young tweets: "Ken Clarke's advice to colleagues: if the newspapers are upsetting you so much, stop reading them"

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Break

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KC says that he's known colleagues to have been upset by the media and says that Gordon Brown was obssessed with what was being written about him and if he were in his entourage he would've tried to stop him from reading what was written about him citing that Margaret Thatcher never read a newspaper.

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LJ Leveson asks Clarke how he would shift the "pendulum" the other way (which has swung too far towards journalists away from the politicians in reference to KC's earlier admission that the power of the press is becoming far greater than the power of parliament).

KC says that politicians have to ask themselves how far they are able to adjust and how the culture of the last 15 years hasbeen successful and ask what is the balance between good governance and good communications via media with the public.

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KC: "In the last 20 or 30 years there has been an obsession with newspapers, which wasn't there before. The present incestuous relationship between the two is quite peculiar and all based on the belief that daily headlines really matter, and I don't think they really do."

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KC discussing the cultural shift in the press, subtle allusion to Tony Blair refuting the notion that the development of spin in some way contributed to the development of the phone hacking saga.

KC says there was never a problem with civil servants acting as press officers but the appointment of Alistair Campbell "marked change of culture".

Referring to an earlier point made that politics is now becoming more professionalised when discussing Campbell's history as a former tabloid editor.

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KC says that a culture of “control freakery” was being introduced to Westminster on a wide scale since New Labour came in.

KC: "Started after 1997 when Labour came up and thought we’d all been terrible amateurs and introduced people with these skills." In reference to

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KC is questioned about the "transactional" nature of the relationship between politicians and the media.

KC answers that it depends on what you define as transactional and that politicians need the media as much as the media need politicians.

He reiterates the "love-hate" relationship between politicians and journalists. Politicians need to curry favour with the press, (adding that the notion of currying favour with journalists is a waste of time), and journalists need the contacts.

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The PCC code notes that the public interest can be used in instances of:

"Detecting or exposing crime or serious impropriety, protecting public health and safety, preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation or if there is a public interest in freedom"

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KC distinguishing between material "of public interest" and material that is "of interest to the public". Contends that it is in the public interest where it involves criminal wrong doing as opposed to a celebrity's personal life.

"I would protect the rights of the journalist who exposed tax fiddling by a member of parliament, but not the journalist who exposed the sex life of a Premier League footballer."

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KC reiterates that he is not a fan of the public interest argument and says that journalists are entitled to bribe in extreme cases if it's the only way of getting informationa about a public scandal in reference to the Bribery Act.

This is in reference to lobbying efforts by media executives in favour of the public interest exemption. This included the Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre.

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KC makes note of reforms to libel and defamation laws.

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KC: "I was not attracted by the enhanced public interest defence, I'm not very keen on public interest defences at all."

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An online petition calling for the Prime Minster to "fire" Jeremy Hunt is quickly gathering momentum with new signatures being added each second. The petition has been launched for the whole day and so far 57,941 people have signed the online petition, which needs 100,000 signatures.

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KC says Data Protection Law needs to be brought up to date

Clarke advises Leveson that whatever he proposes to replace press regulation will be "wildly controversial". Again like his other Cabinet colleagues he has reiterated the right to freedom of expression and that the new regulator needs to acknowledge that.

KC says that the funding arrangements for Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will be renegotiated following new EU proposals on data protection.

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KC: "A lot of people are driven away from politics because of the level of exposure"

He concedes that exposure is a matter of judgement and some exposure is ok insofar that there is some level of tolerance, and that the government doesn't know how to handle that.

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KC: "newspaper eds/proprietors can at times drive a weak government like a flock of sheep before them"

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KC: "The history of politics is a love-hate relationship between journalists and politicians and that’s how it should be"

KC acknowledges that the power of press is becoming far greater than the Parliament and politics is now becoming more noisier, professionalised and personal.

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Jay now turns his attention to reporting restrictions. An area KC says that the media has a perfectly legitimate interest and he will expect the media to react and restrict tightening restrictions.

Reiterates the notion of "open justice" and that the media are extremely cautious.

Talked about opening up family courts. Can't be open up in the normal way given restrictions such as identifying children. He acknowledges that some parts of the media want to access family courts to identify the children of celebrities. H esays "but they're never gonna get that"

Notable reporting restrictions are noted in the 1981 Contempt of Court Act.

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Clarke opens by stating that he is the government's policy lead on so-called "no-win, no-fee" agreements, or conditional fee agreements (CFAs), in defamation cases.

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Lots of people remarking on how "chillaxed" KC looks. Arms crossed and leaning back as opposed to leaning on the table with his head tilted down as most witnesses have done.

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A few Tweets joking that KC is indeed awake following the publication of a photograph of him yawning at a cricket game.

@gsmokeyjoe: "just try to stay awake Ken"

@rosshawkins: "Ken Clarke is up"

@CaptGreyBeard: "Surely it would have been safer to call Ken Clarke BEFORE lunch"

@thomaskidney: "I wonder when Ken Clarke will go for his afternoon snooze"

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Inquiry resumes as Kenneth Clarke QC MP gives evidence.

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FM had made veiled threats to Lib Dems. VC says he's not prepared to identify the source and is not willing to say when he received that report. VC confirms that the conversation occured at the end of 2010 but did not make a note of the meeting or date.

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Rhodri Davies QC takes to the floor on behalf of NI and News Corp. He asks about VC's earlier admission that he could not discuss the bid. and asks: 'would it be wrong to have a meeting in which you listened to the arguments to make sure you understood them and give reassurances that you did understand the argument?'

VC earlier admitted at the beginning of his evidence that he consulted Lib Dem colleagues for advice.

He repeats that he had avenues of communication for parties involved to contact him through and so a face-top-face meeting was not necessary.

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Concerning libel complaints, VC says that complainants should have somewhere to turn to other than the courts and agrees that those who have been defamed should have the right of reply.

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Cable is asked for his view on press regulation. He echoes Theresa May's statement yesterday saying that he believes an Ofcome for the press would be too intrusive and compromise the freedom of the press. However he also concedes that a voluntary system presents problems of its own.

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VC said that he and his colleagues were targetted by the Telegraph because they wanted a Conservative government and were opposed to the coalition government and felt that the Lib Dems were compromising.

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VC: “I was angry with myself at what had happened but… understood that there was no alternative in this case.”

He also said that the comments he made in the Telegraph sting gave off a perception of bias and couldn't continue in the role.

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Sean Connery has been announced as another phone hacking victim

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Guardian writes: "Lord Justice Leveson says that when the press is involved people will have opinions and it becomes difficult to separate personal from professional views.

He asks whether the public is expecting too much of politicians who have gone through the campaign fire to be able to put aside personal views when making professional decisions."

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Appearing under the #leveson hashtag is an online petition asking David Cameron to fire Jeremy Hunt. The petition was set up by Avaaz, a campaigning website which describes itself as "a global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere." The petition can be seen here and has been signed by more than 57,200 people. Jeremy Hunt will give evidence to the Inquiry tomorrow.

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Asked if they are appropriate decisions for politiciand to make. VC agrees and thinks it's right for them to be involved in the process and such decisions are made by those who are part of the democratic process.

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VC is careful to emphasise that he was deliberately keeping his private views separate. "I was quite deliberately and consciously keeping my private views separate from the decision I had to make"

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Was not Cable's intention to hoard the bid in reference to his witness statement to the Inquiry.

"As I acknowledged earlier, the language was excessive and reflected the context of that private conversation. I did however consider that by intervening I had acted in a way that might ultimately prove significant in halting the takeover (as indeed proved to be the case, albeit in ways which I did not anticipate"

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Jay moves on to Telegraph sting, when Cable recorded saying "I've declared war on Mr Murdoch. I think we’re going to win."

The two journalists came in pretending to be constituents over a constituency issue. Interview took place a month after the intervention notice.

He said that "there was a riot outside my constituency office" and that he was struggling to keep his temper and at the time having spoken to angry students over the tuition fees issues and others at the time before seeing the two Telegraph journalists.

VC is asked by Jay what he meant by "we are going to win". VC says what he meant was that by carrying out his legal duties partially had referred the matter to independent regulators which news corop wished to avoid and not succumbing to intimidation.

The PCC ruled that the Telegraph press sting broke the PCC code and that it's use of subterfuge for public interest did not stand in this case.

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Cable said earlier that he had briefed Nick Clegg on the BSkyB bid but didn’t discuss the pros and cons with Hunt, Osborne, Clegg, Cameron.

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Now turn to correspondence between Wilkes and Michel where Michel asked for a meeting and Wilkes refused. VC says that Wilkes' behaviour was consistent with what he expected.

Lord Justice Leveson says that it is clear that the unnamed advisor is Wilkes as Michel sent documents to his email.

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VC also disputes claims by Michel that Labour and Lib Dem MPs wrote to him about the takeover.

Michel further referneces in his email a Lib Dem MP who was a former Sky employee. VC said he wasn't aware they had one.

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Break

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Jay mentions an email by FM in which he refers to a meeting with a VC advisor who said "changing narrative in main media would help him politically a lot." VC is unable to identify who the advisor was.

Jay also mentions that Michel claim that he spoke to Lord Oakeshott 10 times a day was "wildly inaccurate."

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Daily Mirror editor Richard Wallace and Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver were made redundant earlier today as Trinity Mirror moves to 7-day publishing. The paper will be merged and Lloyd Embley has been appointed as the new editor.

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FM recalls a conversation he had with Lord Oakeshott, which was made known to VC. Lord Oakeshott made it clear to VC he was speaking in an entirely personal capacity. He said he doesn't see any strong competition issue and should be looked by the EU and should be aligned with JH's view

VC says he doesn't know what JH's view was.

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Cable is asked to comment on News International quoting sources close to him. He replies: "I have no idea who these people are; nobody was authorised to speak on my behalf."

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VC's witness statement has been published on the website available to read here.

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VC said role of SpAds has evolved having been a former SpAd himself. They act as eyes and ears and in some cases also act as a challenege. VC says he encourages his SpAds to challenge him over policy issues.

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VC is asked about his special advisors Giles Wilkes and Katie Waring in relation to the bid.

Jay tuyrns his attention to Wilkes role. VC said that he didn't have any and was aware of the sensitivity of the issue and his private secretary Richard Abel briefed both Wilkes and Waring that it was a sensitive issue and should be aware.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt also wanted to discuss the bid with VC. VC felt is wasn't appropriate to discuss the bid given his quasi-judicia; role and was unaware of any attempt by JH to discuss the bid.

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Yesterday there were comments on Theresa May's shirt she wore at the Inquiry. Today they are commenting, bizarrely enough, on Robert Jay QC's hankerchief.

@BertrandRustles: Poor "Mr Jay should be at home in bed with a Lemsip"

@Jane Steger-Lewis: "Is Mr Jay blowing his nose on a tea towel?"

@UncannyVal: "MR BARR: If you are reading Twitter this morning, for God's sake get Mr. Jay some tissues, his hanky is revolting"

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VC doesn't know how free his officials were in exchanging information.

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VC said the name Frederic Michel didn't register on his radar and didn't knew what his status was in News Corp. VC thought there were compelling reasons not to meet him because the subject was something he couldn't talk about and such a meeting would be perceived as partial and there would have been a large number of meetings.

VC said he didn't think the meeting was necessary as there were opportunities to put it in writing

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VC was advised that should he intervene with the BSkyB bid there was a "real possibility" that the intervention may be subject to a judicial review by News Corporation and not intervening would be challenged by BT and other opposition groups.

VC eventually intervened on public interest grouns at the beginning of November 2010 and pointed out that a change in ownership could have wide ramifications. This is given the BSkyB is a commercial news provider for commercial radio and Channel 5.

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Cable expressed concern over Murdoch's political influence through newspapers and believed it was becoming disproportionate.

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Cable: "Cable: BSkyB was an independent news generator, a change in ownership and editorial policy could have quite wide ramifications."

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Times Political editor Roland Watson (@rolandwatson66) tweets: "Vince Cable developed genuine substantive concerns about BSkyB deal - wonder if that explains why Hunt wrote memo to Cameron"

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Cable: "Intervention seemed unlikely due to News Corp's control over BSkyB but views evolved"

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Lobby correspondent Adel Darwish (penname Alex Darwin) tweets: "An admission from Vince Cable that he was following party line of BSkyB bid rather than relying on neutral civil-servants' advice?"

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VC was approached people who wished to discuss the bid including James Murdoch and lobby groups, he cites the lobby group 38 degrees as one of the groups who approached him and turned these requests down.

According to Hacked-Off Cable received representations from TUC, BBC, Enders, GMG, TMG, Slaughter & May group, BT, News Corp and Capital Research Management.

Cable said he turned down all approaches from James Murdoch and lobby groups to discuss the bid and admitted that he didn't see it as an urgent issue.

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VC actively consulted Lib Dem colleagues after being given the quaisi-judicial brief over the BSkyB bid and said he wanted bacground guidance on the bid.

VC did not speak to Simon Hughes or Chris Huhne over the issue.

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Dr Cable said that he didn't understand how the BSkyB bid was brought up in Parliament and didn't have a background understanding of media having held the brief of Shadow Chancellor.

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STV Glasgow have announced that Andy Coulson has been arrested by Strahclyde police on suspicion of committing perjury at the high court in Glasgow.

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Dr Cable gives his name as John Vincent Cable. Jay questions him about his experience which has included holding a quasi-judicial role in as a Glasgow councillor.

Cable said he felt he was under pressure at times and summed it up as "if you can't ride two horses you can't be part of the circus"

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