British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Tuesday that he’s not embarrassed about exchanging messages with someone who impersonated President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
“No, I’m not, because there was a minimal exchange, nothing of consequence, and actually, quickly, I realized that this needed to be reported, and I did so,” Burnham told reporters.
“I handled it in the right way,” 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.”
Burnham’s Downing Street office pointed NBC News to the remarks when it was reached for comment.
Politico first reported the incident Monday, citing four anonymous officials. It’s unclear when the exchanges occurred or on what messaging platform. Burnham took over as prime minister on July 20. Reached for comment Monday, a Downing Street spokesperson said, “We do not comment on national security matters.”
A member of the U.K. Parliament, Liberal Democrat James MacCleary, wrote a letter to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee on Tuesday calling for an investigation “into how such a dangerous security breach could be allowed to happen.”
Trump appeared to be unaware of the situation when he was asked about it Monday in the Oval Office.
“I’m sure that he had a miscommunication,” Trump said. He spoke to Burnham just after he took office and said last month on Truth Social, “We will be meeting in the not too distant future for topics of mutual interest.”
Politico’s report said people within the U.K. government were worried that Wiles’ phone had been hacked, as it had been previously. The report noted that The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Wiles told associates her cellphone contacts had been hacked.
A White House official confirmed to NBC News at the time that U.S. officials were investigating an effort to impersonate Wiles after an unknown person reached out to prominent Republicans and business executives pretending to be her.
Reached for comment about the latest incident involving Burnham, a White House official told NBC News, “This incident had nothing to do with the Chief of Staff’s devices being hacked.”
