United Kingdom Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, exchanged messages with an individual who falsely claimed to be Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff to US President Donald Trump, before concerns were raised about the person’s identity.
The incident, first reported by Politico, has prompted questions over the security of communications involving senior government figures.
According to officials cited in the report, Burnham exchanged only a few messages with the person posing as Wiles before becoming suspicious that the contact was not genuine.
A UK government spokesperson declined to provide further details, saying, “We do not comment on national security matters.”
Sources said the communication was limited to text messages and that Burnham did not have a phone or voice conversation with the impersonator.
They added that “No messages of significance” were exchanged and the texts were “quickly reported to the appropriate authorities” once suspicions emerged.
The incident comes amid previous attempts to impersonate senior officials and compromise their communications.
The BBC has previously reported that the FBI investigated an effort to impersonate Wiles after her personal phone was hacked
The incident involved impersonators using her contacts to send messages to senior US officials, including senators, governors and prominent business figures.
Wiles, a close ally of Trump, was also among officials targeted by a cyber espionage group linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 2024.
The latest incident is not the first time a senior UK politician has been targeted by an impersonator.
In 2024, then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron was the victim of a hoax call involving someone posing as former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Cameron also exchanged text messages with the impersonator.
The Foreign Office later made details of the incident public, saying there were concerns that the exchange could be “manipulated”.
Other UK ministers have faced similar attempts.
In 2022, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and then-Home Secretary Priti Patel were targeted by someone pretending to be Ukraine’s prime minister.
Wallace attributed those calls, which were conducted through Microsoft Teams, to Russian “dirty tricks”. A Ministry of Defence source described the video call as “fairly sophisticated” and said it appeared credible because it came through another government department.
The latest episode highlights the continuing security risks facing senior political figures as impersonation attempts and cyber-related attacks increasingly target government officials and their communications.
