Sir Keir Starmer was forced to shut down his personal email account after a suspected Russian hack.
A new book called Get In recounting Starmer’s rise to power and his early days at Downing Street revealed that in 2022, Starmer was warned that his email may have been compromised by Russian hackers.
His head of office, Jill Cuthbertson, circulated a notice instructing staff not to email Starmer under any circumstances.
Starmer promptly changed his email address, which a source called “dangerously obvious”, adding two-factor authentication for extra security.
Starmer promptly changed his email address, which a source called “dangerously obvious”
PALiz Truss was also reportedly hacked when she was Foreign Secretary. This was discovered during the Tory leadership campaign but kept quiet.
Starmer’s account was allegedly compromised after the Russia-Ukraine war began. In April 2022, Kremlin operatives hacked several other emails, including those of former MI6 head Sir Richard Dearlove and former BBC journalist Paul Mason.
At the time, Mason, who had been in Ukraine days before the invasion, was advising Shadow Defence Secretary John Healy on Russia and industrial policy.
He sent briefings to Healy and to former Nato Secretary-General Lord Robertson of Port Ellen as well as to Starmer, whose 2020 leadership campaign he helped plan.
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The correspondence would have provided hackers with insights into Labour’s thinking on defence.
Although the hackers did not publish Mason’s emails, they downloaded his contacts and sent malware messages to other Labour figures.
Senior members of Starmer’s office were briefed on the hack at the National Cyber Security Centre.
The book has led to other revelations, prompting inquiries into Starmer’s alleged breaking of pandemic lockdown rules in 2020.
In April 2022, Kremlin operatives hacked several other emails
GETTYThe Labour leader received voice coaching from actress and communications skills coach Leonie Mellinger, and one of the lessons took place on Christmas Eve 2020, when tier four Covid lockdowns were in place.
Starmer claimed Mellinger was a key worker, enabling her to carry out the session in person at Labour HQ.
Conservative MP Richard Holden said there were “very serious” questions for Starmer to answer over the allegations.
Labour sources have said that all rules were followed.
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