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David Cameron acknowledges there may be more Rebekah Brooks texts | David Cameron acknowledges there may be more Rebekah Brooks texts |
(about 3 hours later) | |
David Cameron has acknowledged in private that he may be sitting on a further cache of emails and texts to and from Rebekah Brooks after a limited search was carried out for the Leveson inquiry. | |
The prime minister faced fresh embarrassment over his links with the former News International chief executive as it became clear only a handful of his communications were searched for the inquiry, set up after the phone-hacking scandal. | |
Cameron and his aides looked for emails and texts with News International or News Corporation employees only if there was a reference to the BSkyB bid. He checked his personal and office phone. | |
The prime minister believes it is wrong of critics, such as the former Labour Europe minister Chris Bryant, to say he is hiding a secret cache of communications because the search requested by the Leveson inquiry yielded no texts or emails. A No 10 source said: "Chris Bryant has made a series of claims that are ridiculous." | |
But Cameron knows a wider search could uncover more texts and emails. In his written statement to the Leveson enquiry, the prime minister made clear the limited nature of the request for texts. | |
"In terms of electronic communications, as requested, I have looked for text messages between myself and representatives of News Corporation or News International in relation to the BSkyB bid," Cameron said. "I have not found any such texts on my personal phone or office phone." | |
He faced further discomfort when the Mail on Sunday published a text from Brooks in which she admitted she had cried twice during his party conference speech. She wrote: "Brilliant speech. I cried twice. Will love 'working together'." | |
The paper also published a more innocuous text sent by the prime minister to Brooks about a horse he rode in company with her husband Charlie, one of Cameron's oldest friends. "The horse CB [Charlie Brooks] put me on. Fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun. DC." | The paper also published a more innocuous text sent by the prime minister to Brooks about a horse he rode in company with her husband Charlie, one of Cameron's oldest friends. "The horse CB [Charlie Brooks] put me on. Fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun. DC." |
The texts were handed to the Leveson inquiry by Brooks, as were those published by the inquiry in the summer. These revealed Cameron signed some of his texts to Brooks LOL, which she claimed meant "Laugh out loud", not "Lots of Love". | |
Bryant tweeted of the new revelations: "These new texts are the tip of an iceberg." The Mail on Sunday reported that Bryant had claimed to be in contact with a No 10 mole involved in search who is said to have described the texts as "salacious". | |
Bryant told Cameron in the Commons on Wednesday: "There is a stash of embarrassing emails, isn't there? [Former special adviser] Adam Smith had to publish every single one of his emails and ended up resigning. Why will the prime minister not publish all his emails?" | |
Cameron declined to respond to Bryant's point as he is awaiting an apology from him after he broke an embargo to leak information from the inquiry. | |
David Willetts, the universities minister, admitted the relationship between politicians and some newspapers became too close. He told the Sunday Politics show on BBC1: "The prime minister has always complied with every request for relevant information from Leveson. | |
"Now, of course, we wait and see what Lord [Justice] Leveson proposes." | |