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Sir Keir Starmer was forced to abandon his personal email account after an investigation by security services into a suspected Russian hack, a new book has claimed.
As leader of the opposition in 2022, Sir Keir was warned that his email account may have been infiltrated by Kremlin-linked hackers in a sophisticated attack.
At the time, his office chief Jill Cuthbertson sent a note to staff instructing them not to email Sir Keir under any circumstances, with no explanation given, it has emerged.
Get In, a history of the Labour Party under Sir Keir by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, claims the PM then changed his email address, described by a source as “dangerously obvious”, and added two-factor authentication for added security.
The book, being serialised in The Times, revealed that the breach happened shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as part of a wider attack also involving former BBC journalist Paul Mason, who at the time was informally advising shadow defence secretary John Healey.
Mr Mason was in Ukraine in the run up to the invasion and sent briefings to Mr Healey and to Sir Keir, as well as to former Nato secretary-general Lord Robertson.
Mr Mason’s account contained detailed correspondence from Mr Healey, the authors reveal. Which, despite being deemed of “limited intelligence value”, would have provided insights into Labour’s thinking on defence and its policy towards Russia.
At a briefing on the hack at the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of GCHQ, senior advisers from the Labour leader’s office were told his email may have been hacked.
Other revelations in the book include that Sir Keir relied for five years on an actress and communications skills coach to improve his public speaking and interview performances.
And it claimed Angela Rayner was ready to launch a coup against Sir Keir in 2021 after she was sacked as party chair in a reshuffle.
During the race to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory leader, Liz Truss’s mobile phone was also reportedly hacked by agents presumed to be working for Vladimir Putin.
The hackers were claimed to have gained access to sensitive information, including discussions with foreign officials about the war in Ukraine and details on arms shipments.
Source: independent.co.uk
