Boris Johnson’s mobile number being online ‘shows he is approachable’

Boris Johnson’s mobile phone number being freely available online for 15 years shows he is ‘approachable’, Rishi Sunak suggested today.  

The Chancellor played down the episode after fears were raised that the PM had been left  at risk of hacking by Russia or China.

Former UK national security adviser Lord Ricketts is among those warning of the threat from ‘hostile states’ after the internet presence of the PM’s personal contact was highlighted by a popular gossip site.

Downing Street refused to say whether Mr Johnson will now be changing the number. There were claims earlier this month that Cabinet Secretary Simon Case had advised him to switch following concerns over the ease with which lobbyists and others from the business world were able to contact him.

But on a visit to Hartlepool today, Mr Sunak insisted ‘all security protocols’ had been obeyed.

‘As far as I’m aware all security protocols have been followed,’ he said.

‘Part of what makes the prime minister special is that he is an incredibly approachable individual.

‘You see it wherever he is out and about, people feel they can relate to him, they can talk to him, they can tell him what’s on their mind.

‘That’s important as politicians for us to be able to hear that and then deliver on it.

‘Talking to people here today in Hartlepool, not a single person has brought that up with me.’ 

Former UK national security adviser Lord Ricketts said Mr Johnson needs to be more ‘digitally secure’ – saying there was an ‘increased risk’ of potential action by hostile states or criminal gangs if a phone number is widely available.

‘I know that modern systems like WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted – nonetheless, I think one would be worried if a hostile state who had sophisticated capabilities, had the mobile phone number itself,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘That must increase the risk that they’re able to eavesdrop on some at least of the communications that are going on, and possibly other non-state actors as well, like sophisticated criminal gangs.

‘So, there is no way of knowing whether that’s true, but there must at least be an increased risk if the number is widely available.’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘It’s obviously a serious situation.

‘It carries a security risk.

‘And he was warned about it. That tells its own story.’

He said: ‘I think a lot of people will be concerned not just about who’s got the number but who’s been using it.

‘Because what’s come out in recent weeks is privileged access – those that can WhatsApp the Prime Minister for favours.

‘This all is further evidence that there’s essentially one rule for them and another rule for everybody else.’

Sir Keir said: ‘I changed my number when I became director of public prosecutions and I’ve kept my number secure since then.’ 

Home Office minister Victoria Atkins tried to play down the issue, criticising the media for highlighting the number’s availability.

‘The Prime Minister, more than anyone, knows his responsibilities when it comes to national security,’ she told Times Radio Breakfast.

‘I’m slightly surprised that a national broadcaster felt it appropriate to advertise the fact that that mobile phone is on the internet, if indeed it is.’

Popular gossip newsletter Popbitch gave its readers clues on how to find the Prime Minister’s number, pointing them to a press release from his time as MP for Henley in 2006. 

The number, which the PM hasn’t changed in the 15 years since, is written on the bottom of the press release. 

Mr Case is said to have raised the issue with the PM last year, telling him he was being asked for help by MPs, lobbyists and others in the business world so often because his number was too widely known. 

Attempts to call the number have been met with an automated message saying the phone was ‘switched off’ and an invitation to ‘please try later or send a text’. 

On website Phonefinder, under an entry for the PM’s supposed number, dozens of users poked fun at the revelation.

One, using the username Dominic Cummings joked they received a call from the PM’s phone and were told his famous hair ‘is fake’.

Another referenced the scandal over the Prime Minister’s flat renovations, joking the called ‘sl**** off my John Lewis furniture’. 

Others took aim at Brexit while one user posed as Keir Starmer to slam Mr Johnson for not answering questions. 

It is the latest headache for the PM, who came under fire for the ‘Wallpapergate’ row, as well as ‘sleaze’ claims over text messages he sent to billionaire Sir James Dyson and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Last week, Boris Johnson mounted a furious defence as he came under fire over the leaked private texts in which he promised Sir James he would ‘fix’ a tax rule so the tycoon’s staff could help make ventilators for the NHS.  

Sir James wrote an official letter to the Treasury asking for the tax status of his staff to remain the same if they moved from Singapore to the UK to produce vital ventilators during the pandemic.

But in a private text seen by the BBC, Mr Johnson told Sir James that he ‘will fix it’ himself.

He then added ‘Rishi says it is fixed!! We need you here’.

Just two weeks later, Rishi Sunak told MPs that those coming into the UK to offer help during the pandemic would not see a change in their tax status.

It was the latest in a string of cronyism and lobbying questions facing the Conservative Party, after accusations that David Cameron used his influence and contacts to lobby ministers and officials behalf of his financier boss Lex Greensill.

This included texting Mr Sunak in an unsuccessful effort to secure coronavirus loans.

Hitting back at the BBC’s report, Sir James wrote in the Daily Telegraph: ‘There were myriad questions, from the technical to medical and compliance.

‘It was in this context that we wrote formally to the Chancellor on March 15 for clarification on how UK tax rules would apply during this period of unprecedented upheaval. Far from concealing the text exchanges, we shared them explicitly with officials at the Treasury and No10 via email on March 28.’  

A BBC spokesman said: ‘The BBC has led the way on reporting a significant story which is clearly in the public interest. Sir James Dyson has informed us he is not a prominent Conservative supporter.’ 

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer today trolled Boris Johnson by sampling wallpaper at John Lewis as he gently fanned the flames of the Downing Street flat row.

The Labour leader was seen picking out wallpaper at the department store’s Manchester site, in a subtle dig at his Conservative adversary.

It comes as an incensed Mr Johnson furiously defended himself at yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions over the ‘Wallpapergate’ row – in which he is accused of using £58,000 of Tory funds for a lavish refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Yesterday a clearly rattled Mr Johnson used Downing Street to insist he paid for the renovations himself and had abided by the ministerial code.

His animated Commons performance sparked an explosion of memes on Twitter, as people poked fun at the politician’s visible fury.

And today, Sir Keir, slightly late to the party, decided to have a go at a humorous take on the row.

It has been claimed that Mr Johnson and partner Carrie Symonds labelled the Downing Street flat – which he inherited from Prime Ministerial predecessor Theresa May- a ‘John Lewis nightmare’.

And Sir Keir made a subtle dig at the claims by browsing wallpaper at John Lewis at at the Intu Trafford Centre in Manchester.