British Prime Minister Andy Burnham communicated with somebody who was posing as a close adviser to US President Donald Trump, sources with knowledge of the situation told Politico on Monday.
Burnham communicated with someone pretending to be White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, exchanging a “few messages of no signficance” before realizing that the contact was illegitimates, Politico reported.
The sources said that the British embassy in Washington raised the incident with the White House out of concern that Wiles’ phone had been hacked again. The White House told Politico that the incident “had nothing to do with the chief of staff’s devices being hacked.”
Last year an FBI investigation was launched after Wiles’ personal phone was hacked, giving an impersonator access to private phone numbers of senators, governors, top US business executives and other figures.
Politico reported that Downing Street declined to comment on the incident. The contents and timing of the messages with the Wiles imposter remain unknown.
Since the incident the personal phone numbers of at least three UK cabinet ministers have been published online, The Guardian reported on Monday evening.
The names and numbers of UK Defense Secretary Wes Streeting, Justice Secretary Alex Norris, and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant were made available online, according to the report.
Streeting’s phone number has been removed, a source told the Guardian, with Downing Street officials working to take down the others.
The source added that Streeting does all his government business on his official government phone. Downing Street declined to comment on whether measures had been put it place to prevent another breach.
