David Cameron returned yesterday to the bear pit of the House of Commons at a fraught time for his government. In recent days, the widening phone-hacking scandal has threatened to inflict substantial damage on the prime minister.

His judgment and authority have been called into question, both over the past employment of Andy Coulson as his chief media adviser and his excessively cosy relations with top News Corp executives. In spite of a fighting performance, Mr Cameron did not wholly convince on either issue.

The prime minister’s continued refusal to apologise for appointing Mr Coulson looks bizarre in light of recent revelations. There were plenty of warnings about Mr Coulson’s propinquity to the scandal that should have raised doubts about his claim to have known nothing about it. Mr Cameron ignored all of them.