Britain’s new prime minister thought he had a direct line to President Donald Trump’s inner circle. Instead, he was messaging a mystery impostor.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged a handful of messages with someone posing as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, according to a bombshell Politico report citing four officials.
Burnham eventually smelled a rat and cut off the contact. But by then, at least some of the exchange had taken place after he entered 10 Downing Street on July 20—turning an apparent digital con into a security headache spanning two governments.
One person briefed on the communications insisted that only a “few messages” were exchanged and that they were “of no significance.”
British officials were not quite relaxed enough to let the matter drop.
The British Embassy in Washington raised the incident directly with the White House, two officials told Politico. Downing Street offered only a stone wall in response to questions: “We do not comment on national security matters.”
CBS News reported that the BBC independently confirmed the exchange and said it was limited to written messages. Burnham and the impostor never spoke by phone, according to that account.
The White House also pushed back on the most alarming theory circulating in London.
“This incident had nothing to do with the Chief of Staff’s devices being hacked,” a White House official told CBS News.
That distinction matters because Wiles’ identity has already been hijacked once in a sprawling Washington impersonation scheme.
In May 2025, senators, governors, business executives and other prominent figures received texts and calls from someone claiming to be Trump’s powerful gatekeeper. Wiles told associates that her personal phone had been hacked, and CBS News reported that one or more unknown people used contacts from the device to target senior officials.
The messages came from unfamiliar numbers, and some recipients were asked to shift the conversation to Telegram. The FBI launched an investigation.
The earlier scheme grew stranger as it unfolded. As Mediaite reported, citing The Wall Street Journal, one lawmaker was asked to prepare a list of people Trump should pardon. In another case, the impersonator requested a cash transfer. Targets also noticed broken grammar and oddly formal language that did not sound like Wiles.
The fake-Wiles operation was not an isolated stunt. An impostor later used artificial intelligence to mimic Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s voice and writing style while contacting foreign ministers and American officials.
The FBI warned in December that malicious actors have been impersonating senior state, White House, Cabinet and congressional figures since at least 2023. The schemes often begin with a text, quickly jump to an encrypted app and then turn toward sensitive information, authentication codes, introductions or money, according to the bureau’s public alert.
Burnham took office less than a month ago after replacing Keir Starmer. An official government biography says he returned to Parliament in June and became Labour leader on July 16 before entering Downing Street four days later.
Who contacted him, how the impostor reached him and what the pair discussed remain unknown.
F’ing Brits are gonna be the death of US. Guess it is payback for us kicking the jeebers out of them 250 years ago.