Andy Burnham exchanged messages with Trump aide impersonator in security scare
Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone impersonating one of Donald Trump’s closest aides, officials claimed today.
The Prime Minister allegedly communicated with the person pretending to be White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in a series of messages before becoming suspicious. A source with knowledge of the messages said they were sent after Mr Burnham entered 10 Downing Street on July 20, but insisted they were ’of no significance’.
Four officials speaking anonymously confirmed the report to Politico, and two of them said the British embassy in Washington raised the issue with the White House. No.10 has not yet explained the circumstances, with a Government spokesperson simply telling the Daily Mail: ’We do not comment on national security matters.’ But the Mail understands no telephone call was held between Mr Burnham and the imposter, and the activity was quickly reported to the appropriate authorities.
There has been no detail of what was discussed or when the messages were sent, but UK officials were allegedly worried Ms Wiles’s phone had been hacked again. It comes after the FBI was revealed last year to have been investigating attempts by one or more unknown people to access Ms Wiles’s personal phone.
Officials targeted in high-profile messaging hoaxes
She was claimed to have told people that her phone had been hacked after an impersonator used her contacts file to message other top officials in America. That incident was first reported in May 2025 by The Wall Street Journal, which claimed recipients included US senators, governors and business executives.
The Burnham incident is one of several hoax communication attempts to members of Government in recent decades. Russian pranksters released footage in June 2024 of a video call with then foreign secretary David Cameron after tricking him into thinking he was speaking to a former Ukrainian president.
Pranksters target Cameron in hoax call
Mr Cameron held the 15-minute video call with someone purporting to be Petro Poroshenko before realising he was the victim of a hoax. Russian duo Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov – known as Lexus and Vovan – were behind the incident, having duped a string of politicians over the years.
In March 2022, a video of a prank call to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace – again involving Lexus and Vovan - showed him thinking he was talking to Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal. Downing Street later accused the Kremlin of being behind the efforts to secure sensitive or embarrassing information in duplicitous calls.
Hoaxers target top UK officials
In May 2018, the same pranksters pretended to be Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan in a call to Boris Johnson who was foreign secretary at the time. Mr Johnson discussed the UK’s relationship with Moscow and the Salisbury nerve agent attack with Lexus and Vovan, and congratulated Mr Pashinyan on his ’remarkable success’.
In January 2015, Mr Cameron – when prime minister - received a hoax call on his BlackBerry from someone claiming to be taking part in a high level conference call. The caller was put through to Mr Cameron, who quickly hung up.
Blair and others fooled by prank callers
The caller claimed to be Robert Hannigan, then director of GCHQ. An imposter also managed to get through to Tony Blair at Downing Street in 1998. Radio stunt merchant Steve Penk played the trick on Mr Blair as he left his morning briefing in 1998 with the help of impressionist Jon Culshaw. Mr Culshaw put on the voice of then-leader of the opposition William Hague and offered the prime minister a Cher exercise video.
Taking the joke in good humour, Mr Blair laughed along and said: ’That’s quite a good imitation.’ Former home secretary Priti Patel has also acknowledged having spoken to imposters, while an unsuccessful attempt targeted former culture secretary Nadine Dorries.
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