View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

Fresh embarrassment for Cameron over cosy Rebekah Brooks texts

By PA Mediapoint

  • Brooks texts Cameron: "Brilliant speech. I cried twice. Will love 'working together.'"
  • Prime Minister challenged over 'salacious and embarrassing' texts
  • Cameron 'happy to comply with whatever Lord Justice Leveson has asked of him'

David Cameron is facing fresh embarrassment over cosy text exchanges with former News International boss Rebekah Brooks.

In one message obtained by the Mail on Sunday (MoS), the Prime Minister thanked Brooks for letting him ride one of her horses, joking it was "fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun".

In another the journalist, who faces trial in connection with the phone-hacking scandal, praised Cameron's speech to Tory conference, saying: "I cried twice."

The playful texts are apparently part of a cache of texts and emails handed to Lord Justice Leveson's media standards inquiry.

Very few have so far been made public – sparking accusations from Labour that they are being covered up.

The leak sheds further light on the close relationship between Cameron and Brooks, who live near each other in Oxfordshire.

Her husband, racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, was at Eton with the Prime Minister.

Content from our partners
Free journalism awards for journalists under 30: Deadline today
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition

Brooks told the Leveson Inquiry earlier this year that Cameron signed some of his missives to her "LOL" – mistakenly thinking it meant "lots of love" rather than "laugh Out loud".

Both of the messages disclosed by the MoS were sent in October 2009, shortly after Brooks left her job as editor of The Sun and became chief executive of News International, which owns the paper.

Rebekah Brooks. Pic: Reuters

In one, Cameron wrote: "The horse CB (Charlie Brooks) put me on. Fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun. DC."

After his conference speech, Brooks texted: "Brilliant speech. I cried twice. Will love 'working together.'"

Questions about Cameron's close links with Rupert Murdoch's media empire, and Brooks in particular, came to the fore after the phone-hacking row erupted.

In her Leveson evidence, Brooks said that at the height of the scandal he sent a message through an intermediary urging her to "keep your head up" and expressed his regret he could not be more loyal in public.

It also emerged previously that the Conservative leader rode a police horse, Raisa, lent to Brooks by the Metropolitan Police.

Lord Justice Leveson is believed to have received a large amount of correspondence from the Prime Minister, Brooks and former Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson.

However, the inquiry's lead counsel Robert Jay QC has indicated that only "relevant" documents will be released.

Labour frontbencher Chris Bryant has challenged Cameron to publish all the material himself, suggesting he was delaying because it was "too salacious and embarrassing".

Brooks and Coulson, an ex-editor of the News of the World, are among those facing trial for conspiracy to access voicemails.

In a separate case, Brooks and her husband are among a group charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has always been happy to comply with whatever Lord Justice Leveson has asked of him."

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network