News Digest

David Cameron brushes off hoax call to his mobile by ‘wasted’ prankster

British Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted “no harm was done” by a hoaxer who called him on his mobile phone pretending to be the head of spy agency GCHQ. The man thought to be responsible for the prank bragged to a local newspaper that he had also called GCHQ despite being “off his face” on alcohol and drugs. Both Mr Cameron’s Downing Street office and GCHQ, the British intelligence agency that monitors communications, are now reviewing their security procedures, officials said.

I’ve just made complete monkeys out of GCHQ. I’ve got the mobile number of the director. What’s more, I am off my face on booze and cocaine. I had some spliffs too. I’ve been up all night. I’m utterly wasted. Hilarious.

The Sun newspaper, quoting a man who called them and claimed he had spoken to Mr Hannigan

A government spokeswoman confirmed that a hoax caller had obtained the phone number for GCHQ director Robert Hannigan, but said that line was “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, she said, adding sensitive information was not disclosed in either instance.