Report: Boris Johnson's Phone Number Was Online for 15 Years

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to Downing Street in London, Britain, April 28, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to Downing Street in London, Britain, April 28, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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Report: Boris Johnson's Phone Number Was Online for 15 Years

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to Downing Street in London, Britain, April 28, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to Downing Street in London, Britain, April 28, 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville

The British government downplayed allegations Friday of a security risk after it was reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cellphone number has been circulating online for 15 years.

Celebrity website Popbitch revealed that the number was on a think tank press release from 2006, when Johnson was an opposition lawmaker and the Conservative Party’s higher education spokesman.

Callers to the number on Friday heard an automated message saying the phone was “switched off" and telling them to try later or to send a text.

The government denied there was a security lapse. Home Office minister Victoria Atkins insisted that the prime minister “knows his responsibilities when it comes to national security.”

She criticized the media for revealing the fact that the number was in the public domain.

British ministers are issued a government phone for official business, and receive security briefings from intelligence agencies on protecting their communications.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said that “as far as I’m aware, all security protocols have been followed.”

“Part of what makes the prime minister special is that he is an incredibly approachable individual," Sunak said.

But former National Security Adviser Peter Ricketts said that if the number was widely available, it could be used for eavesdropping by hostile nations “and possibly other non-state actors as well, like sophisticated criminal gangs.”

Johnson is already facing questions about his text and WhatsApp message exchanges with business leaders and lobbyists.

He has denied doing anything wrong when he exchanged text messages with industrialist James Dyson last year and promised he would “fix” the tax rules for Dyson if he agreed to make ventilators for the National Health Service.



Zelenskiy Thanks Trump for Readiness to Support Ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Thanks Trump for Readiness to Support Ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he had spoken to US President Donald Trump after his announcement of new weapons for Ukraine and thanked him for his support. 

"It was a very good conversation. I thanked him for his readiness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings and establish a lasting and just peace," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 

Zelenskiy said he and Trump had agreed to speak more frequently and "continue coordinating our steps". 

He also said he had a very good conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who met with Trump at the White House on Monday. 

Trump told reporters he was disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin and that billions of dollars of US weapons would go to Ukraine. 

He also threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agreed to a peace deal, expressing frustration at repeated Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities. But the threat of sanctions came with a 50-day grace period. 

The weapons would include Patriot air defense missiles, which Ukraine has urgently sought. 

Zelenskiy had earlier met US special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where they discussed boosting Ukraine's air defenses and Kyiv buying weapons with European help. 

Trump had said on Sunday that he would send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine. 

"We discussed the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer. This includes strengthening Ukraine's air defense, joint production, and procurement of defense weapons in collaboration with Europe," Zelenskiy wrote on X. 

"And of course, sanctions against Russia and those who help it." 

Trump, who began his second term with a more conciliatory approach to Russia, has in recent weeks signaled disenchantment with Putin as Moscow has stepped up air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. 

An air-raid alert was declared in Kyiv shortly after the meeting between Kellogg and Zelenskiy on Monday.