Can you tell the president I'll call him back? I'm half way through a three-set thriller with Rebekah Brooks' husband.

According to Charlie Brooks, who faces charges linked to phone hacking along with his wife, David Cameron put the most powerful man in the world on hold while he finished of a game of tennis at his country mansion.

"We're pretty good friends. I played tennis with him at Chequers one day," Brooks said.

"I won the first set easily, then he won the second set, and then someone came up to him and said 'Er... Mr Obama is on the phone for you, prime minister.' He said: 'I think we've got time for a third set - tell Mr Obama I'll ring him back.'

As The Independent reports, Brooks added: "He obviously thought he had me on the ropes, and I beat him two sets to one."

However Downing Street is said to be "baffled" by Brooks' story as U.S. presidents do not simply call up the prime minister on a whim.

A N0. 10 source told the Daily Mail: "Calls between PM and president are scheduled by officials, there's an agenda. This story simply can't be true,” The Huffington Post reported.