Unconfirmed hack of Liz Truss’ phone prompts calls for “urgent investigation”

Enlarge / Liz Truss, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, taking a picture on her phone on May 1, 2018, in London. (credit: Getty Images)

British opposition politicians are calling for an “urgent investigation” into an unconfirmed media report that spies suspected of working for Russia hacked the phone of former Prime Minister Liz Truss while she was serving as foreign minister.

The report, published by the UK’s Mail on Sunday newspaper, cited unnamed people speaking on condition of anonymity saying that Truss’ personal cell phone had been hacked “by agents suspected of working for the Kremlin.” The attackers acquired “up to a year’s worth of messages,” discussing “highly sensitive discussions with senior international foreign ministers about the war in Ukraine, including detailed discussions about arms shipments.”

The Mail said that the hack was discovered during the Conservative Party’s first leadership campaign over the summer, which ultimately named Truss prime minister. The discovery was reportedly “suppressed” by Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister at the time of the campaign, and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, with the latter reportedly imposing a news blackout.