Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently exchanged messages with an individual who was posing as the chief of staff to US President Donald Trump. According to reports, the communication involved a person claiming to be Susie Wiles. Officials have stated that only a small number of messages were exchanged before the Prime Minister became suspicious that the contact was not legitimate.
A government spokesperson addressed the incident by noting that the administration does not provide comments on national security matters. It is understood that the interaction was strictly limited to text messages, with no voice or video conversations taking place between the two parties. Sources indicated that the messages were of no significance and were promptly reported to the appropriate authorities once the impersonation was suspected.
This incident follows previous reports concerning the security of Susie Wiles. The FBI previously investigated a hack of her phone in May of last year, during which an impersonator used her contact list to message various US officials, including senators, governors, and high-level business executives. Additionally, Wiles was targeted in 2024 by a cyber espionage unit linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The current situation draws parallels to a 2024 security breach involving the Foreign Office, where then-foreign secretary David Cameron was the victim of a hoax call. In that instance, an individual pretended to be Petro Poroshenko, who was president of Ukraine between 2014 and 2019. Lord Cameron had exchanged some text messages with the impersonator, a development the Foreign Office disclosed publicly at the time due to concerns that the details of the exchange could be manipulated.
Downing Street has declined to comment on the security breach, first reported by Politico.
During his term as prime minister, Lord Cameron had multiple dealings with the Ukrainian leader, including meetings at international summits.
