Skinner gives stand-in Clegg a mauling

Amid uproar at Question Time, Mr Skinner demanded that Mr Clegg must come clean and say "man to man what does he really think" about Prime Minister David Cameron's involvement.

Mr Skinner scathingly referred to "the Prime Minister riding a borrowed police horse" and asked: "Doesn't it really stink to high heaven?"

He declared that he was giving Mr Clegg "a chance to shine" while Cameron and his "gang" were away on a visit to the US.

Labour members jeered when the Lib Dem leader failed to give a reply as he stood in at the despatch box for the absent PM.

Mr Clegg funked the question by referring simply to Mr Skinner's 42 years as an MP, adding politely: "I am delighted to see that in all that time he has not mellowed one bit."

Mr Skinner told the Star afterwards: "I wanted an answer, but I didn't get one. I gave him a chance to separate himself from the Tories.

"This is a scandal that surrounds Cameron and the Tory leadership. It took two days for Downing Street to admit that the PM had ridden the horse borrowed from the Met Police.

"Chancellor George Osborne was the man who recommended former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as spin doctor to Cameron and Rebekah Brooks's husband Charlie was at Eton with Cameron.

"This sordid saga involves millionaire's row hand-in-glove with the Murdoch empire."

Mr Skinner's Commons skirmish with Mr Clegg came just a day after former News International chief executive Ms Brooks and her race-horse trainer husband Charlie were arrested in dawn raids.

The two friends and neighbours of Mr Cameron were held on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and questioned for around 12 hours.

Afterwards, many MPs congratulated Mr Skinner, whose nationwide fame has grown since Mr Cameron foolishly called him a "dinosaur."

Labour MP Ian Lavery said: "This is a huge national scandal. How many times do certain people need to be arrested before we get to the truth?

"Clegg was given an opportunity before the eyes of the world to distance himself from the scandal. But he refused to do it.

"There is only one answer to this and that is a full-scale public inquiry into the Murdoch empire."

rogerbagley@peoples-press.com