Men-only clubs attacked by David Cameron (a former member of men-only clubs)

David Cameron weighed into the sexism-in-sport row today by condemning men-only clubs — despite having been a member of the all-male Oxford University Bullingdon Club and White’s gentlemen’s club, of which his father was once chairman.

The Prime Minister spoke as Culture Secretary Maria Miller vowed to boycott golf’s 142nd Open Championship due to the all-male policy of the host club, Muirfield, near Edinburgh.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also attacked Muirfield’s “old-fashioned, inexplicable” stance on his weekly LBC radio phone-in show, saying “I think many people will shake their head and say ‘How on earth is this still possible in this day and age?’”

Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is believed to be an honorary lifetime member of Pratt’s, an all-male dining club.

Mr Cameron’s spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has a great deal of sympathy with the view that exclusive memberships of this sort look more to the past than they do to the future.”

Asked whether Mr Cameron would encourage Cabinet colleagues to give up any memberships, the spokesman said: “He certainly shares the view set out by the Culture Secretary on this.”

Ms Miller’s refusal to attend the Open, which started today, came as shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman claimed it was an “embarrassment” that the Scottish club should host the championship and added: “It’s time to ban men-only sport clubs.”

Ms Miller also attacked BBC presenter John Inverdale, who is fronting the BBC’s Open coverage, for recently saying Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli was “never going to be a looker”. In a robust letter to corporation chiefs she asked to be informed of “action” taken after 600 people complained about Inverdale’s comments.

She wrote: “It is...a matter of some concern to me that any comment on the looks and stature of a female athlete could be made in the context of one of the highlights of the UK’s, and indeed the world’s, sporting calendar.”

Inverdale wondered on air “if Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little, ‘You’re never going to be a looker, you’ll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight?’” He later wrote to Bartoli to apologise for a “clumsy phrase”. The BBC said the comments fell beneath expected standards.

Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster Mark Field defended the presenter, saying: “It’s a little unfair to rake up the Bartoli affair. Inverdale has apologised already.”

Muirfield said it had no plan to change. “We conform to the Equality Act 2010. Any change in the membership would be for the members to decide.”