PM brushes off attack over Brooks

Prime Minister David Cameron sought to brush off a jibe about his relationship with Rebekah Brooks during PMQs
16 May 2012

David Cameron has attempted to brush off an attack from Labour over his closeness to former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.

Labour leader Ed Miliband referred to the disclosure that the Prime Minister signed off text messages to the former tabloid editor with the message "LOL", meaning "lots of love".

Mr Cameron responded with a jibe at former prime minister Gordon Brown, telling MPs: "I have to admit that perhaps I have been overusing my mobile phone.

"But at least, as Prime Minister, I know how to use my mobile phone rather than just throw it at the people who work for me."

In the first Prime Minister's Questions of the new parliamentary session, Mr Miliband accused Mr Cameron of breaking promises on public services.

The Labour leader said: "That's the problem with this Government, they cut taxes for millionaires and cut services for the rest of us." But Mr Cameron hit back, labelling Mr Miliband "weak" and "left-wing".

It was announced on Tuesday that Mrs Brooks is to face criminal charges over the phone hacking scandal.

Referring to the Prime Minister's texts to Mrs Brooks, Mr Miliband suggested Mr Cameron could send a message to the new French president, Francois Hollande.

"I'm sure a text message and LOL will go down very well," he said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT