Andy Burnham today insisted he does not feel a shred of embarrassment after exchanging messages with a fraudster posing as Donald Trump’s chief of staff. The Prime Minister claimed there was ‘nothing of consequence’ in his exchanges with the fake Susie Wiles and that he ‘handled it the right way’ by valiantly reporting the debacle.
Downing Street yesterday refused to comment on what it called a ‘national security matter’. A spokesperson for Burnham declined to confirm when the messages were exchanged, how many there were or whether the conversation took place over WhatsApp or another platform. The White House, for its part, was quick to claim the incident ‘had nothing to do’ with Wiles’ phone being compromised.
Asked by reporters whether he was embarrassed by the episode, Burnham replied: ‘No, I’m not, because there was a minimal exchange.’ The Prime Minister declared that ‘correct action has been taken here and in the US’. He added:
All politicians are receiving these pressures and these challenges, but I did everything right. There was a minimal exchange of information of zero consequence, and it was quickly reported.
Of course, our An-deh is not the first member of government to fall victim to a hoax. In 2018, then foreign secretary Boris Johnson was duped by a Russian fraudster posing as Armenia’s newly appointed head of state. Three years earlier, Downing Street put through to David Cameron a caller pretending to be the head of GCHQ.
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