Cameron admits he rode Brooks’ police horse

David Cameron, the British prime minister, has admitted he rode a horse given by police to Rebekah Brooks, a Rupert Murdoch newspaper editor.

After his aides had spent days dodging questions on the horse, which has become an unlikely symbol of the phone-hacking scandal, Cameron apologised for the lack of clarity and confirmed he had ridden the horse with the husband of Rebekah Brooks, who used to run Murdoch’s British news-paper business.

The questions have been awkward for Cameron, accused of being too close to Murdoch’s News Corp, the company at the centre of a public outcry over illegal phone hacking and payments to police.