David Cameron 'should publish secret messages' with Rebekah Brooks - Telegraph.co.uk

Lord Oakeshott, a senior Liberal Democrat peer, said further publication is "clearly" in the public interest.

"These exchanges show an unhealthily close relationship between David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Prospective Prime Ministers must no appear to be hand in glove with chief executives of vast media groups. Full publication is clearly in the public interest as press regulation and ownership are so vital for our democracy."

The Leveson inquiry has published some of the Prime Minister's correspondence, in which Mrs Brooks suggested a "country supper", described herself as a "proud friend" and said they were "in this together".

It also revealed that Mr Cameron, an old friend of Mrs Brooks' husband, signed his messages "LOL" to mean "lots of love", until she informed him it meant "laugh out loud".

However, the messages about the horse ride and tears at Mr Cameron's speech from 2009 remained unpublished after they were also judged to be not relevant.

The message from the Prime Minister to Mrs Brooks read: "The horse CB [Charlie Brooks] put me on. "Fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun. DC."

Mrs Brooks texted Mr Cameron after his party conference speech to say: "I cried twice. Will love 'working together'."

Chris Bryant, a Labour MP campaigning for the release of the messages, said more should be disclosed about the frequency and content of Mr Cameron's relationship with Mrs Brooks.

"The whole of the Leveson inquiry is meant to refer to the whole of the relationship between the police, the press and politicians and so on, and I think most ordinary members of the public would think that it is material whether the Prime Minister was texting Rebekah Brooks every day or just once every two years."

Mr Bryant said he has written to Lord Justice Leveson, the judge in charge of the inquiry, asking for the remaining messages to be published.

He said: "I think it's time we saw all the material and then we can judge for ourselves, because of course the Prime Minister, just like everybody else is entitled to a degree of privacy, and I don't think it should extend to the kind of cover-up that he's now engaged in."

Sources close to Downing Street said there were nowhere near 150 messages between Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks remain unpublished.

"The inquiry decides what's relevant and it's up to them what they publish," the source said.

It is understood Lord Justice Leveson had already seen the two new unpublished text messages. He is expected to give his final report on media ethics by the end of the year.

A spokesman for the Leveson Inquiry declined to comment.