Blair ‘offered to advise’ newspaper editor Brooks

Tony Blair offered to act as an “unofficial adviser” to newspaper editor Rebekah Brooks when she sought his guidance at the height of the phone-hacking crisis at the News of the World, prosecutors have told the Old Bailey.

The former prime minister also allegedly advised taking sleeping pills during an hour-long conversation with Brooks in July 2011 — a summary of which the editor sent to boss James Murdoch in an email, the hacking trial was told.

According to Brooks, Mr Blair, who stood down after a decade as prime minister in 2007, advised “no rash short-term solutions as they only give you long-term headaches”.