The “carelessness” between the press and politicians became “excessive”, the Sky News political editor has said today.

Giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, Adam Boulton said journalists should avoid becoming too friendly with politicians if they interview them on a regular basis.

He later added: “I think one of the things about the media is seeking access and I think if you’re pushing at an open door its quite difficult to know when you should pull back... I think you can be blamed with hindsight, if a lot of people think it looks wrong.”

Boulton told David Barr, junior inquiry counsel, it was “perfectly understandable" for politicians to draw journalists’ attention to certain issues and said he doubted politicians transformed their behavior to garner press support. He admitted some courted newspapers for backing and said proprietors and journalists had to judge their relationships for themselves. He agreed that Tony Blair and David Cameron “may have” got too close to Rupert Murdoch.

The journalist expressed surprise that David Cameron and Ed Miliband had attended the News Corp summer party last year “to pay court”.

He added: “I see nothing wrong in holding a party or inviting people to it. I was a little surprised that they felt the need to turn up, I’ll put it like that. And people looking from the outside would draw their own conclusions.”

He went on to say he thought an infamous “pyjama party” attended by Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng, Sarah Brown and Rebekah Brooks was inappropriate.

He said: “I just thought ‘this is completely bonkers that this sort of intimacy is being indulged in by the Prime Minister’s wife and a senior proprietor’s wife’, and I thought at the time ‘it will all end in tears’.”

Asked about the News Corp BSkyB takeover bid, Boulton said he made it clear Sky was independent and regulated by Ofcom, and he had only had three conversations with proprietor Rupert Murdoch in his 23 years at the broadcaster.

He also criticised the government under Blair and Gordon Brown for not feeling the “obligation to tell the truth at all times”.