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.



UK Police Arrest 4 Over Pro-Palestinian Protest at Military Base

Tourists walk past the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament, in London, Britain, June 26, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
Tourists walk past the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament, in London, Britain, June 26, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
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UK Police Arrest 4 Over Pro-Palestinian Protest at Military Base

Tourists walk past the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament, in London, Britain, June 26, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
Tourists walk past the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament, in London, Britain, June 26, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

British police have arrested four people in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest last week in which military planes were sprayed with paint at an air base in England, authorities said on Friday.

A woman, 29, and two men aged 36 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, while another woman, 41, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, Reuters quoted the police as saying in a statement.

Two activists from the Palestine Action group broke into the air base in central England on June 20, damaging and spraying red paint over two planes used for refueling and transport, an act that was condemned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as "disgraceful."

Within days the government set out plans to use anti-terrorism laws to
ban Palestine Action, making it a criminal offence to belong to the group. Interior minister Yvette Cooper then said its actions had become more aggressive and caused millions of pounds of damage.

The government also said last week that it was reviewing security across all British defense sites following the incident.