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Hoax GCHQ caller put through to David Cameron’s phone Hoax GCHQ caller put through to David Cameron’s phone
(about 1 hour later)
A hoax caller was put through to David Cameron’s phone after claiming to be the director of eavesdropping agency GCHQ. Security procedures are being reviewed at Downing Street after a hoax caller pretending to be the head of GCHQ managed to get through to David Cameron on Sunday.
The prime minister ended the call when it became clear it was a hoax and no sensitive information was disclosed, Downing Street said. Cameron spoke to the imposter, who was claiming to be the GCHQ director Robert Hannigan, but ended the call quite quickly after he released he was being tricked.
Security procedures are being reviewed at both No 10 and GCHQ, where a mobile phone number for director Robert Hannigan was disclosed to the caller. According to No 10, no sensitive information was disclosed during the conversation between the men, which was described as “quite brief”.
In a separate incident, a caller rang GCHQ and managed to obtain Hannigan’s mobile phone number.
A government spokeswoman said: “Following two hoax calls to government departments today, a notice has gone out to all departments to be on the alert for such calls.A government spokeswoman said: “Following two hoax calls to government departments today, a notice has gone out to all departments to be on the alert for such calls.
“In the first instance, a call was made to GCHQ which resulted in the disclosure of a mobile phone number for the director. “In the first instance, a call was made to GCHQ which resulted in the disclosure of a mobile phone number for the director. The mobile number provided is never used for calls involving classified information. In the second instance, a hoax caller claiming to be the GCHQ director was connected to the prime minister.”
“The mobile number provided is never used for calls involving classified information. In the second instance, a hoax caller claiming to be the GCHQ director was connected to the prime minister. The spokeswoman said that incidents of this kind were taken seriously and procedures were being reviewed to see whether any lessons needed to be learned.
“The prime minister ended the call when it became clear it was a hoax. In neither instance was sensitive information disclosed. It is understood that the number given out by GCHQ for Hannigan related to a normal phone that he uses, not a secure line used for sensitive communications.
“Both GCHQ and No 10 take security seriously and both are currently reviewing procedures following these hoax calls to ensure that the government learns any lessons from this incident.” Cameron is not the first prime minister to find the No 10 switchboard putting a call through to him from someone claiming a false identity.
It is understood that the mobile number given out for Hannigan was for an unclassified phone rather than one of the secure lines used for sensitive communications. Tony Blair once received a call from a man speaking with a Yorkshire accent claiming to be William Hague. Blair quickly rumbled it was a joke because the caller, a radio DJ, called him “Tony” unlike the then leader of the opposition, a stickler for formality, who always called him “prime minister”, but Blair played along with it for a bit and then joked about the exchange later at PMQs.
The call to the prime minister was made to an official mobile but the conversation was understood to have been “quite brief” before the hoax was discovered.