The United States has made an official apology to Britain for bizarre claims Barack Obama may have used UK spies at GCHQ to listen to Donald Trump‘s calls. The White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, personally apologized after he repeated the claim in an official briefing, triggering a major diplomatic incident. Without any confrmation, Spicer repeated a false story reported on Fox News. It prompted a rare and furious response from GCHQ, which is Britain’s high-tech global listening post that monitors communications around the world.
The rebuke from GCHQ said: ‘Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct ‘wire tapping’ against the then President Elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.’
Intelligence sources said both Mr Spicer and General McMaster, the US National Security Adviser, have now apologised over the claims. Britain’s ambassador to the United States Sir Kim Darroch spoke directly to Mr Spicer about the incident. It was made clear to the Trump Administration that Britain does not spy on it’s allies. Why Spicer would insult and falsely accuse one of America’s closets allies is a mystery.
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