In a twist that even the brain of Chris Morris couldn't have dreamt up, the Met Police is revealed to have "loaned" Rebekah Brooks a police horse in 2008. The Evening Standard reports that Brooks "rode the retired horse for a year at her farm in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire before it was put out to pasture."

In return, the horse may well have enjoyed the privilege of a day out with David Cameron. Here's what former News of the World hack Paul McMullan told Hugh Grant during the latter's undercover investigation for the New Statesman:

Cameron went horse riding regularly with Rebekah. I know, because as well as doorstepping celebrities, I've also doorstepped my ex-boss by hiding in the bushes, waiting for her to come past with Cameron on a horse . . . before the election to show that - you know - Murdoch was backing Cameron.

A friend of Brooks told the ES that "Anybody can agree to do this with the Met if they have the land and facilities to pay for its upkeep." The Met's already battered credibility depends on the veracity of that claim.

Update: Today's Sun headline couldn't be more appropriate.