Unconfirmed Liz Truss phone hack report prompts calls for investigation
CNN
By Allegra Goodwin and Chris Liakos, CNN
The UK government is facing calls to investigate after an unconfirmed media report claimed former British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ phone was hacked while she was foreign secretary.
The UK’s Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that private messages between Truss and international foreign ministers, including messages about the war in Ukraine, as well as messages with former finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng fell “into foreign hands.”
The paper claimed that the hack was discovered during the Conservative Party leadership campaign over the summer, which ultimately saw Truss named prime minister.
The paper also claimed that “agents suspected of working for the Kremlin” were behind the hack, citing unnamed sources.
CNN cannot independently verify the Mail on Sunday claims, whether a hack occurred or who might have been behind it.
CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
A UK government spokesperson told CNN that the government “do not comment on individuals’ security arrangements,” but added it had “robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats.”
Chair of the government’s Defense Select Committee, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, told Sky News on Sunday that Russia is “getting better and better at these cyber-attacks and hacking.”
“We take the most stringent measures to make sure it doesn’t happen,” he said adding that “it is something for the intelligence and security committee to investigate further.”
UK opposition parties have demanded an investigation into the reported claims.
The Labour Party’s shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement the report raises, “immensely important national security issues… which will have been taken extremely seriously by our intelligence and security agencies.”
The Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran also called for an “urgent independent investigation to uncover the truth” in a tweet Saturday.
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