Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 14 Jun 2012

David Cameron as told the Leveson Inquiry that Gordon Brown "cooked up an entirely specious and unjustified conspiracy theory" linking the Conservative Party to the Murdoch empire. He said that the allegations were like a "witch trial" where it was impossible to prove yourself innocent. He also stood by his decision to hire Andy Coulson as communications chief.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt last night survived a House of Commons vote on a Labour motion calling for an inquiry into whether he broke ministerial rules over his handling of Rupert Murdoch's bid for control of BSkyB. The Labour motion was defeated by 290 to 252 votes.

Employment secretary Iain Duncan Smith will today say that families will be lifted out of poverty if at least one parent works 35 hours per week thanks to universal credit. In a speech, he will criticise the previous Labour government's definition of poverty – which focused on median incomes – and say factors such as drug-dependency and long-term unemployment should be taken into account.

Spain is on course for a full financial bailout after the amount of interest it pays on 10-year government bonds hit the critical seven per cent mark following a credit rating downgrade. Moody's slashed Spain's sovereign credit rating by three notches to Baa3, just one level above junk, because the government this week announced it was borrowing €100bn to bail out its financial sector.

The Supreme Court has thrown out WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange's application to reopen his appeal against extradition to Sweden, saying it was "without merit". Assange, who is wanted by Swedish authorities over alleged sexual misconduct, could now take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.