I do not think David Cameron will survive politically.
Here's a article by Peter Oborne - the Daily Telegraph's chief political commentator. (ETA for non-brits, the Telegraph is an ultra-mainstream Tory newspaper)
The series of disgusting revelations concerning his friends and associates from Rupert Murdoch’s News International has permanently and irrevocably damaged his reputation... We are talking about a pattern of behaviour here. Indeed, it might be better described as a course of action. Mr Cameron allowed himself to be drawn into a social coterie in which no respectable person, let alone a British prime minister, should be seen dead...an incestuous collection of louche, affluent, power-hungry and amoral Londoners, located in and around the Prime Minister’s Oxfordshire constituency.
Incidentally - you may judge for yourself whether you believe him - Oborne claims that Nick Clegg was personally warned by Alan Rusbridger (editor of the Guardian) about the evidence they had on this issue before the last election. So it seems that Clegg entered into an alliance with Cameron knowing what he was.
Remember this is not me saying this as some lonely lefty in Coventry. This is from the heart of the Tory party.
Mrs Brooks... was responsible for setting standards. Those standards, as the world now knows, were foul beyond human credibility and she bears much of the blame. It may well be dangerous for David Cameron to ditch Mrs Brooks. She may have acquired a great deal of information about him and the senior members of his cabinet, both at those quiet Chipping Norton dinners and quite possibly through other, nefarious means. Mrs Brooks is cornered and liable to strike out. But that is a risk the Prime Minister must take.
I literally don't think Cameron can take that risk. He dare not ditch Brooks. Because look what he is risking now - how much easier his life would be if he could denounce her. He is only standing by her because he knows what she can do to him. Eventually she will do it, and he will be finished.
I am sorry I am posting a lot on this, but I think something real is happening in politics, minute by minute unfolding, which is out of anyone's control. The people have power, and the amoral elite are on the back foot. I am completely fascinated.
