‘Partygate,’ a Russian threat and reality TV: What hackers found in Boris Johnson leak
Leaked computer files tied to former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson offer an unprecedented glimpse into a scandal over COVID-19 protocols, his response to the Ukraine war and his private views on world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The hack also found documents pitching a reality television show.
Taken together, the files paint an intimate portrait of the former politician’s day-to-day activities, including during his time as prime minister from 2019 to 2022.
Straight Arrow News obtained the more than 2,000 files from the nonprofit leak archiver DDoSecrets. Unidentified hackers quietly posted the data online last year, according to DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best, but it has not been previously reported.
SAN sent an inquiry to Johnson’s office, where the data appears to have originated, as well as to Johnson’s personal email address, but did not receive a reply.
Little is known about the details surrounding the breach and those responsible. But cybersecurity experts describe the data leak as a serious exposure of information in the hands of a world leader.
“It’s obviously a devastating compromise if personal emails, documents and the like have been collected and breached,” Shashank Joshi, visiting fellow at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told SAN.
World leaders are regularly targeted by both criminal and nation-state hackers. In 2020, according to researchers at Citizen Lab, the University of Toronto-based group that specializes in spyware detection, multiple phones at Johnson’s office and the foreign office were compromised.
That attack, which Citizen Lab linked to the United Arab Emirates, was carried out with the advanced Israeli-made spyware known as Pegasus. Both the UAE and NSO Group, the company behind the spyware, denied involvement.
Rob Pritchard, the former deputy head of the U.K.’s Cyber Security Operations Centre and founder of the consulting firm The Cyber Security Expert, told SAN that it is entirely possible that the hack of Johnson could be tied to an influence operation from a foreign adversary.
“I think this really highlights the importance of ensuring good practices when it comes to cybersecurity, especially for high-profile individuals,” Pritchard said. “Ex-prime ministers will undoubtedly still be very high-priority targets for a range of countries, and their private office will hold sensitive information, if not actually classified information in the strict sense.”
‘Security briefing: Nuclear’
A folder titled “Travel” underscores the hack’s intrusiveness.
It includes photos of Johnson’s passport and driver’s license, as well as his visa information for Australia, Canada, Kurdistan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Identifying documents for family and staff are also present.
Itineraries outlining visits to numerous countries offer insight into Johnson’s routine. One U.S. visit, which does not include a date but appears to have been during President Donald Trump’s first term, shows efforts by Johnson to meet prominent politicians, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Other itineraries, including one for a November 2023 visit to Israel, mention Johnson’s security measures. The document states that although Johnson did not bring a protection force of his own, “4 Israeli private security agents” would look after his group while “on the ground.”
Documents related to a November 2022 visit to Egypt show the names and phone numbers of two individuals tasked with protecting Johnson while in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh. The travel folder also contains documents related to VIP suite bookings at London Gatwick Airport and COVID-19 vaccination records for those traveling with Johnson.
Another folder called “Speeches” contains dozens of notes and transcripts for talks by Johnson both during and after his tenure. Invoices show how much Johnson charged for several speaking engagements in 2024 after leaving office, including $350,000 for a speech to Masdar, a clean energy company in the UAE. After deductions, however, Johnson appears to have pocketed $94,459.08.
The usernames, passwords, phone numbers and email addresses used for Johnson’s accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Threads are exposed as well in a file marked “confidential.”
Another folder, labeled “DIARY,” includes Johnson’s daily schedules, marked as both “sensitive” and “confidential,” during his time as prime minister. One schedule from July 2019 simply states, “Security briefing: Nuclear.” Another entry from that month: “Telephone call with the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.”
‘Partygate’
A folder titled “Notebooks” includes scans of hundreds of pages of Johnson’s handwritten notes. Many sections have been redacted with “National Security” warnings.
SAN confirmed that the documents are related to the U.K.’s independent public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, which required Johnson to hand over copies of his diaries and notebooks. Although many of the documents related to the inquiry were made public, those obtained by SAN were not.
The investigation found that Johnson attended numerous social gatherings during the pandemic in breach of COVID-19 lockdown regulations. The ensuing scandal, known as “Partygate,” ultimately led to Johnson’s resignation.
In one notebook entry dated March 19, 2020, Johnson writes that “some very difficult rationing decisions” would be required because of the pandemic’s strain on the U.K.’s medical system.
Another entry regarding the 2021 G7 summit in Cornwall, England, highlights the issues Johnson planned to discuss with numerous world leaders, including former President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
‘It would only take one missile’
The data cache contains 160 emails from the first 22 months following Johnson’s tenure as prime minister. They appear to have come from the account of Johnson’s senior adviser.
These emails discuss Johnson’s private endeavors, including a document pitching a reality TV show to popular streaming platforms, complete with AI-generated photos of the former world leader.
One of the later emails contained in the breach, dated June 10, 2024, shows attempts by the U.K.’s National Security Secretariat to schedule a meeting with Johnson regarding “a sensitive security issue” almost two years after he left office.
The email, sent on behalf of Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Collins, noted a “strong preference” for an in-person meeting with the former prime minister. It’s unclear what spurred the meeting request and whether it was related to the breach.
The final folder from the leaked data involves the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Notes on a widely reported phone call between Johnson and Russian President Vladimir Putin from February 2022 offer insight into the former prime minister’s thinking. The conversation is described by Johnson, who makes specific mention of Putin’s use of profanity, as “weirdly intimate in tone.”
Johnson also claims that Putin said, “I don’t want to hurt you boris but it would only take one missile.”
Johnson later revealed the threat in a 2023 documentary by the BBC. A Kremlin spokesperson responded by calling the claim a “lie.”
In another entry dated “25 October,” Johnson reminds himself to “call Putin” with an invite to a United Nations Climate Change Conference. Johnson notes that such events are “not really his bag since it is all about moving beyond hydrocarbons and he is paranoid about covid.”
The leak also contains a U.K. Defense Intelligence document dated December 2022 regarding the status of a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The document includes numerous classification labels, such as sensitive, which denotes that it is not intended for public release. Other markings show that the document may only be shared with international partners in the European Union, NATO, Australia and New Zealand.
The U.K.’s Cabinet Office, which supports the prime minister, did not provide a statement when contacted by SAN.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
