British and American media reported Monday that Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, fell victim to an impostor posing as U.S. President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, leading Burnham to believe he was exchanging messages with her.
The embarrassing incident comes less than a month after Burnham took office, promising to bring political, economic and security stability to Britain after years of turmoil.
According to the reports, Burnham exchanged messages with someone claiming to be Wiles and remained in contact until suspicions arose about the person on the other end. Britain’s Guardian reported that, as far as is known, no messages containing “important information” were sent and that the suspicious activity was quickly reported to the relevant authorities.
Politico, which first reported the incident, said the two sides exchanged only “a few messages” and that the communication was limited to text messages.
The British Embassy in Washington was reportedly concerned enough about the exchange to raise the matter with the White House in an effort to clarify what had happened. Asked to comment Monday, a British government spokesperson said: “We do not comment on matters of national security.”
(photo: AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
It is not the first time someone has impersonated Wiles, considered one of the most powerful figures in the White House and one of Trump’s closest aides.
Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI opened an investigation after someone hacked Wiles’ phone and used her contact list to send messages to Republican figures, including senators and governors, as well as business executives, while posing as her.
In 2024, Wiles was also among the targets of a cyberespionage unit linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Burnham is also not the first senior British official to fall victim to prank calls or impersonation attempts in recent years. In 2024, then-Foreign Secretary and former prime minister David Cameron was contacted by someone posing as former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. Cameron exchanged several text messages with the person.
In 2022, then-Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel were targeted by an impostor claiming to be Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister at the time.
Wallace later said Russia was behind the calls, which were conducted over Microsoft Teams, and accused Moscow of engaging in “dirty tricks.”