Speaking to LBC’s Kay Burley in 2012, the cleared husband of Rebekah Brooks has revealed he still wants to be friends with the Prime Minister, despite the disappointment felt when the PM spoke out against his wife:

“We were at school together and our families have known each other for a long time I suppose, decades. I’m getting old now. And he’s also our MP at home and our neighbour so we know each other pretty well. We obviously don’t see each other at the moment and that’s his decision and probably his advice and I don’t really blame him for that. He’s got a job to do and if his advisors say there should be a bit of clear water and distance between him and Rebekah and myself at the moment I certainly don’t hold that against him. I just you know think that’s life.”

The interview continues:

KB: Are you content with his behaviour because you were close weren’t you. You played bridge together, he came to ride the horse, we’ve read a lot about that.

CB: I was a little bit disappointed when he commented in Parliament on whether Rebekah should resign or not because I didn’t really feel he had all of the facts at his finger tips to comment on that. When this is all over, I’m sure he’ll explain, ‘I’m sorry but I was, these are the pressures I was under on that particular day’. He also has pressures in this whole thing as well. So I don’t feel any anger towards him at all.

KB: Do you think you can be friends again?

CB: Yeah I do yeah.

The Chipping Norton set are almost reunited.