Prime minister's riding of Rebekah Brooks' former Met horse shows how 'top politicians got too close to powerful media players'
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has accused David Cameron of becoming a symbol of how leading politicians get too close to the powerful media after the prime minister confirmed that he did ride the horse lent by police to the former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks.
Hopes that the prime minister could draw a line under his friendship with Brooks faded after his admission embroiled him in a saga perhaps inevitably becoming known as Horsegate.
Cameron apologised for allowing a "confusing picture" about his direct connection to the animal to emerge over recent days.
He told reporters in Brussels that the horse, called Raisa, was among his mounts when he rode with his Etonian contemporary Charlie Brooks, Rebekah Brooks' husband, before the 2010 election.
"I have not been riding with him since the election. Before the election, yes, I did go riding with him," Cameron said. "He has a number of horses and, yes, one of them was this former police horse Raisa, which I did ride."
The prime minister said he was sorry to hear that Raisa "is no longer with us".
"I think I should probably conclude by saying I don't think I will be getting back into the saddle any time soon."
He added: "If a confusing picture has emerged over the last few days, I am very sorry about that. I think my staff have had to answer a lot of questions about horses."
A spokesman for Brooks said she only rode the horse once before discovering that it was "too traumatised" to be ridden by a novice after it had spent "13 years in the riot squad".
However, he added that Charlie Brooks continued to ride the horse as he was an experienced horseman. He travelled to the mounted police headquarters, Imber Court, in Thames Ditton, where the horse was now kept, to demonstrate to officers that he could ride it.
Earlier, Miliband seized on Cameron's admission when he addressed the Scottish Labour party conference in Dundee at the tail end of a week when the Leveson inquiry heard police evidence revealing "corporate corruption on an unprecedented scale in News International".
"Today we learn that Cameron cannot even manage to be straight about riding a horse loaned to him by a News International executive," said Miliband. "The horse story may seem ridiculous. It is. But it is also becoming the symbol of how leading politicians got too close to powerful media players."
Previously, No 10 sources had indicated there was a strong possibility that Cameron had ridden the retired police horse. The Brooks' stables are not thought to be vast, so there was a good chance Cameron may have ridden Raisa.
One No 10 source said Cameron's involvement in the affair was an illustration of the prime minister's admission earlier this year that politicians had become too close to the media.
"We know that they were all too close. We have all accepted that politicians and the media were too close."
The source said Cameron never went as far as Sarah Brown, who hosted a pyjama party for Brooks in Downing Street. "The prime minister does not wear pyjamas on the back of a horse," the source said.
Cameron had said it was "a matter of record" that he had gone riding with Charlie Brooks, a racehorse trainer whose stables are a central part of the so-called Chipping Norton set.
The prime minister told 5 News: "He is a friend of mine of 30 years' standing and a neighbour in my constituency, so that's a matter of record. But since I have been prime minister I think I have been on a horse once, and it wasn't that one."
Prior to Cameron confirming he had ridden the horse, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, a friend of the prime minister, went on air to "categorically state" that the prime minister had not ridden it.
Clarkson, who writes columns in the Sun and the Sunday Times, told Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2: "I can categorically state that he never rode that horse. I do actually live there. It's all rubbish."
Lord Justice Leveson hit out at leaks from his inquiry after details of the horse loan were disclosed in the London Evening Standard.
He warned that if the leaks continued he could restrict the advance release of witness statements to core participants – people who have a significant interest in the hearings or who may face criticism.
"I am disturbed about it, not only because leaks would constitute a breach of the confidentiality agreement that everybody has signed, but also because it runs the risk of disrupting the way in which this inquiry can proceed," he said.
The prime minister's spokesman said that details of his meetings would be published, but added that he did not believe his horse riding with Brooks would be included. "It was not a meeting," the spokesman said. "The prime minister does not have meetings on horses."
The horse was stabled at the Brooks farm in the Cotswolds from 2008 to 2010, before being handed back to Scotland Yard.
The Met website suggests retired horses offered a suitable home should not be ridden. A spokesman later clarified, however, that "before we rehome any of our horses at the end of their working life, veterinary advice is sought about whether the horse should continue to be ridden".
"Whilst some horses are still rideable on retirement, some are not and it is sometimes difficult to find homes for horses where the advice is that a horse should not continue to be ridden. For this reason, we appealed via our website for people who could rehome a horse without riding it."