Was Liz Truss’ phone hacked by Russians? Government urged to investigate claims Ukraine messages leaked

The Government has been urged to launch an urgent investigation following claims that Liz Truss’s phone was hacked by suspected Russian agents.

The breach was discovered when she then the Foreign Secretary and running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by then-prime minister Boris Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, The Mail on Sunday reported.

Spies suspected of working for Russian president Vladimir Putin gained access to sensitive information, including discussions about the Ukraine war with foreign officials, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

It also claimed private conversations between Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng criticising Johnson fell into the hackers’ hands, potentially leaving them at risk of blackmail. The Mail on Sunday alleged a year’s worth of messages were downloaded.

Now former chief whip Mark Spencer has said Liz Truss was “clearly hacked”, and stressed that ministers must be “super careful” about where they access information. On the suggestion that it was Truss’ personal phone which was subject to the breach, he said it is possible his own conversations with his wife are being listened to by “some little man in China”.

The government said it has “robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats”, while new Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that it took “security issues incredibly seriously”.

Opposition parties are demanding a probe into the alleged attack, which will raise questions about the UK’s cyber security, as well as the judgment of Mr Johnson and Mr Case.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “There are immensely important national security issues raised by an attack like this by a hostile state which will have been taken extremely seriously by our intelligence and security agencies. There are also serious security questions around why and how this information has been leaked or released right now which must also be urgently investigated.

“It is essential that all of these security issues are investigated and addressed at the very highest level and we need to know that the Government recognises the gravity of this and the importance of fully protecting our national security.”

Speaking to Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, she added: “Clearly these are very serious allegations. It raises issues around cybersecurity, it’s why cybersecurity has to be taken so seriously by everyone across government, the role of hostile states, but also the allegations about whether a Cabinet minister has been using a personal phone for serious government business, and serious questions about why this information or this story has been leaked or briefed right now.”

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said: “We need an urgent independent investigation to uncover the truth. Was Liz Truss’s phone hacked by Russia, was there a news blackout and if so why? If it turns out this information was withheld from the public to protect Liz Truss’s leadership bid, that would be unforgivable.”

Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, told Sky News: “I have seen these reports. I don’t know the value or the sources and so forth. It is something for the sister committee, the Intelligence and Security Committee I think to investigate further.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “We do not comment on individuals’ security arrangements. The Government has robust systems in place to protect against cyber threats. That includes regular security briefings for Ministers, and advice on protecting their personal data and mitigating cyber threats.”

While on the Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Gove insisted the government takes security issues “incredibly seriously” He said: “I don’t know the full details of what security breach, if any, took place.

“What I do know is that the Government has very robust protocols in place in order to make sure that individuals are protected, but also that Government security and national security are protected as well.”

Asked about reports the alleged breach was covered up by the Cabinet Secretary, Gove said: “I’m sure that Liz both as foreign secretary and as prime minister will have followed the advice that she was given by the intelligence and security communities.

“I think all of us have to be sensitive, particularly those of us in Government, to the fact that the more that we talk in detail about these things, the more that we risk giving information to people who wish this country and its citizens harm.

“We do take security issues incredibly seriously. That’s why, again, I have to be cautious in responding to the point that you understandably made about Liz’s phone.”

Reports on the hacking come as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is resisting demands to launch an inquiry into Suella Braverman for her security breach. He reappointed her as Home Secretary just six days after she was forced out after sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission.