Political blogger Paul Staines, the man behind the Guido Fawkes website, used his appearance at the Leveson Inquiry to attack the Westminster Lobby system, claiming that 'senior politicians, editors and proprietors mix freely all too easily".

Staines said it was an 'unhealthy and closed system lacking in transparency conducted behind closed doors'and called for Lobby briefings to be televised.

The 'implicit rules of the club'discouraged Lobby journalists from 'rocking the boat too much'and encouraged a 'trade in favours", he said in his written evidence.