Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has told the British inquiry into media ethics that she discussed phone hacking with British prime minister David Cameron at a party in 2010.

Brooks told the inquiry they talked about the increase in civil court cases involving phone hacking.

She said that when The Sun newspaper switched its allegiance to the Conservatives before the 2010 election, it had more to do with Labour's failings than any affinity she had with the Tories.

Brooks also denied she would receive up to a dozen messages a day from Mr Cameron, but she said the British prime minister was among the top politicians who commiserated with her when she was forced to resign over the phone-hacking scandal.

"No, I mean I have read this as well, 12 times a day, I mean, it's preposterous," she said.

"One would hope as leader of the opposition or prime minister he'd have better things to do and I hope that as chief executive, I did. I mean, I would text Mr Cameron and vice versa on occasion, like a lot of people."

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Her testimony revealed she had met frequently with Mr Cameron, lobbied key offices of government for the approval of a major Murdoch takeover bid and intervened in the long-running row between former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

In a sign of how close the pair were, Brooks admitted that Mr Cameron would sign off on text messages with the abbreviation LOL, which he thought meant "lots of love". She explained that the prime minister stopped when she informed him it actually meant "laugh out loud".

Dubbed by some the "fifth daughter" of Rupert Murdoch, Brooks edited the News of the World from 2000 to 2003 and went on to become the first female editor of The Sun daily tabloid, Britain's most widely read newspaper, for six years.

She confirmed her position as one of the most important executives in Murdoch's global empire with promotion to run the British newspaper arm, News International, from 2009 to 2011.

Mr Murdoch shut the News of the World in July when it emerged its journalists had hacked into the voicemail of public figures and a murdered schoolgirl.

Close circle

The impression that the prime minister and finance minister George Osborne surrounded themselves with a coterie of privileged individuals for cosy dinners and horse riding in the English countryside has been pounced on by critics.

Lawyer Robert Jay cut straight to the chase as Brooks began her day-long testimony, pressing her for names of politicians who had expressed sympathy when she was caught up in the hacking storm in July 2011.

At first Brooks sought to evade the question, but eventually said: "I received some indirect messages from Number 10, Number 11, the Home Office, the Foreign Office."

Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street are the prime minister's and finance minister's offices respectively.

Asked if she had indirectly received a message from Mr Cameron to "keep her head up" in the week she stood down, as reported by the Times, she said: "Along those lines. I don't think they were the exact words."

Mr Cameron also sent a message to Brooks via an intermediary, explaining that he could not remain loyal to her publicly because opposition leader Ed Miliband "had him on the run" over his cosy relationship with top people in the Murdoch empire.

Blair and Brown

Sorry, this video has expired Lisa Millar discusses Rebekah Brooks' appearance at the media inquiry

Brooks said former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, with whom Mr Murdoch had a friendly relationship, had also got in touch at that time, but his successor Gordon Brown had not.

Mr Brown had once courted Brooks and Mr Murdoch, but had fallen out with them over coverage that he viewed as hostile and intrusive.

"He was probably getting the bunting out," Brooks said.

The 43-year-old, a celebrity in her own right with her instantly recognisable bright red curls, was part of a small group of friends that included Mr Cameron, Mr Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth, and others known as the "Chipping Norton set" for their weekend gatherings in the picturesque Oxfordshire town.

Mr Cameron, who has acknowledged politicians' ties with Mr Murdoch were far too cosy, is grappling with a series of disclosures from the Leveson inquiry that have shown the close social ties between government and Mr Murdoch's most powerful executives.

The appearance last month of James Murdoch at the inquiry revealed how a senior ministerial aide had repeatedly and inappropriately sought to help Murdoch's News Corp secure the $12 billion takeover of pay-TV group BSkyB.

The aide immediately quit but minister Jeremy Hunt is also facing calls to stand down.

In a written statement to accompany her appearance, Brooks said she had spoken to Mr Cameron and other government members to express her feelings forcefully in support of the bid for BSkyB.

ABC/wires