Former British prime minister Tony Blair offered to be an “unofficial adviser” to Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News International, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and his son James at the height of the phone hacking scandal, a trial has heard.

According to an email from Ms Brooks to James Murdoch, then executive chairman of News International, Ms Brooks says she had spent an hour on the phone to Mr Blair. It adds: “He is available to you, KRM [Rupert Murdoch] and me as an unofficial adviser but needs to be between us.”

The email, which was read out to the court, also says that Mr Blair allegedly advised her to set up an independent unit to produce a “Hutton style” report into the hacking allegations – a reference to the inquiry into the death of UK weapons expert David Kelly in 2003.