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Burnham
exchanged messages with impersonator of top Trump aide
The U.K.
leader believed he was communicating with White House chief of staff Susie
Wiles.
August
17, 2026 7:00 am CET
By Sam
Blewett
https://www.politico.eu/article/andy-burnham-messages-impersonator-top-trump-aide-susie-wiles/
LONDON —
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody
impersonating one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, four officials have told
POLITICO.
The new
PM communicated with someone posing as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles
before becoming suspicious that the contact was illegitimate, the officials
said.
“We do
not comment on national security matters,” Downing Street said. One person
briefed on the communications said a “few messages” were exchanged after the PM
entered No. 10 but insisted they were “of no significance.”
The
British embassy in Washington was so concerned about the incident that it
raised it with the White House, two of the officials said. Like others in this
article, they were granted anonymity to discuss a matter of national security.
Inside
the U.K. government, there were fears that Wiles’ phone had been hacked again.
A White
House official said: “This incident had nothing to do with the Chief of Staff’s
devices being hacked.”
Last
year, the White House and the FBI launched an investigation after senators,
governors and U.S. business executives received texts and phone calls from
someone claiming to be Trump’s chief of staff.
The Wall
Street Journal reported that Wiles told associates her cellphone contacts had
been hacked.
What was
discussed in the exchange with Burnham — and when the messages were sent — is
unclear, with the erroneous contact kept a closely-guarded secret.
Burnham
became PM on July 20, but it was clear he was on course to succeed Keir Starmer
from the moment he won the Makerfield by-election on June 18.
This
story has been updated to include a comment from a White House official.
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