Number 10 silent on whether David Cameron used Rebekah Brooks' police horse

The Prime Minister is long rumoured to have spent time horse-riding with Mrs Brooks, the ex-News International boss, who stepped down over the News of the World’s phone-hacking scandal. Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks were both part of the so-called Chipping Norton set of powerful public figures that met regularly at private gatherings until the phone-hacking scandal broke. She denies the outings ever took place, although both are members of the local Heythrop Hunt, which is chaired by her husband, Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer. Last night, a spokesman for the Prime Minister could not say whether he had ever taken out the horse loaned to Mrs Brooks by the Metropolitan Police between 2008 and 2010. Asked whether Mr Cameron ever rode the police horse, his official spokesman replied: "Um, that is not something that I keep tabs on, which horse the Prime Minister is riding."