Justice Secretary Ken Clarke finds getting through his ministerial red boxes "more trying" now, and may not remain in the political frontline much longer, the Leveson Inquiry heard.
Conservative peer Lord Brooke, who served alongside Clarke under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, suggested that the 71-year-old minister might be considering standing down from the Cabinet.
He told the inquiry: "I had dinner with him (Clarke) quite recently, and he did say he was finding red boxes at night slightly more trying than he had done in his youth.
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"So how long he will be willing to be in a frontline position, I don't know."