Cameron escapes unscathed

Friends of David Cameron are pretty satisfied with how today went. Their sense is that nothing explosive came out and that if that embarrassing Brooks text is the worst headline from his four hours plus on the stand then that’s not too bad a result. The prime minister has also been greatly helped by the fact that we haven’t seen any of his text messages to Ms Brooks.

When it came to press regulation, Cameron was not as emphatic as Michael Gove or George Osborne. But he was clear that he is not keen on any new laws. Instead, he seemed to be urging Leveson to opt for beefed-up self-regulation. However, Leveson seemed doubtful of the merits of this idea. One sensed a judicial eyebrow raising when Cameron suggested that newspapers could be made to sign up to the system by making receipt of government briefings and press release conditional on it.