London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Aug 05, 2026

Dominic Raab’s mobile number freely available online for last decade

Dominic Raab’s mobile number freely available online for last decade

Exclusive: Finding raises questions for security services weeks after similar revelations about PM’s number
The private mobile number of Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, has been online for at least 11 years, raising questions for the security services weeks after the prime minister’s number was also revealed to be accessible to anyone.

Raab’s number was discovered by a Guardian reader using a Google search. It appears to have been online since before he became an MP in 2010, and remained after he became foreign secretary and first secretary of state – de facto deputy prime minister – in 2019.

The web page showing the number also contained other personal details for Raab. It has since been removed following extensive correspondence with the website by the Guardian, and the number no longer appears online or via Google.

The foreign secretary has previously warned of the cybersecurity threat posed by rogue states.

In April, it emerged that Boris Johnson’s personal mobile could be found at the bottom of a press release and had been online for 15 years, raising questions over why the confidentiality of senior politicians’ contact details was not thoroughly investigated.

The former UK national security adviser Peter Ricketts said the breach regarding Raab’s number showed more attention must be paid to online security.

“The wide availability of Mr Raab’s personal phone number must increase the risk that other states, or even criminal gangs, have been able to eavesdrop on his calls,” he said. “It also means that anyone who happens to have had his phone number … is able to lobby the foreign secretary, bypassing the official channels which everyone else has to use. Anyone taking on a role as sensitive as this should in their own interests pay as much attention to online as to physical security.”

The shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, called for an investigation. She said: “This is a staggering lapse in security from a foreign secretary who, only last month, was lecturing Nato allies about the cybersecurity threat posed by authoritarian regimes.

“It is typical of the government’s approach that when it comes to national security and defending democracy they say one thing but do another. This should be the subject of an investigation. Both the prime minister and foreign secretary have failed to protect their own phones. How can we be assured they aren’t as careless with sensitive intelligence and diplomatic cables too?”

The government said it had requested the removal of the web page containing Raab’s details after being alerted by the Guardian.

Johnson’s number was found on a thinktank press release, unearthed by the newsletter Popbitch, related to his work as a shadow higher education minister when he was also MP for Henley, inviting journalists to contact him for comment. The number has since been disconnected.

Last week, the Mail on Sunday reported that MI5 had been given the go-ahead to examine the phone for possible hacks.

Concerns are also said to have been raised over the amount of government business conducted on WhatsApp amid fears over the risk that significant private information could be read if a phone were stolen or hacked.

Senior officials had reportedly advised Johnson to change his phone number due to concerns about how many people had access to it from his time as a journalist, MP and mayor of London, but he is said to have refused.

Johnson was criticised for text message exchanges with the entrepreneur Sir James Dyson and with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Dominic Cummings, formerly the prime minister’s most senior aide, recently revealed details of government WhatsApp groups that coordinated the coronavirus pandemic response, involving the prime minister, health secretary and the country’s most senior medical and scientific advisers.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “Private information was wrongly retained online, before the foreign secretary’s appointment. Once we were made aware, we had it removed immediately. Most of it was out of date, and no security was compromised.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Spain and Morocco Trade Blame After 72,000 Migrants Enter Ceuta
Met Police Investigated Journalist Who Questioned Cambridge Professor
Badenoch Defends Tory Candidate Jailed for Antisemitic Abuse of Luciana Berger
NHS Spends £240m a Year Storing Paper Records Despite Digital Push
Apple Seeks Court Order to Stop OpenAI Using Alleged Trade Secrets
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Comcast: Tied to a Chair and Hit in the Face With Cake: The Regular Humiliation Ritual at the US Corporate Giant
Aston Martin Faces Legal Threat Over £550m Rescue Deal
Conservative Party and Reform UK Face Growing Scrutiny Over Political Transparency
GMB and Public Sector Unions Prepare for Wider Debate Over Government Priorities
UK Government Faces Pressure to Address National Water Infrastructure Failures
NHS Radiographers Report Rising Racist Abuse From Patients
Breast Cancer Experts Call for Overhaul of NHS Diagnostic Approach
UK Government Reviews Prison Policy After Debate Over Capacity and Public Safety
Nigel Farage Faces Questions Over Leadership Discussions and Five Million Pound Donation
Conservative Party Faces Candidate Controversy Over Former Antisemitic Activist
UK Energy Industry Pushes for Greater Role for Domestic Oil and Gas Production
Gatwick Expansion Debate Continues as Airport Prepares for Second Runway Construction
Reform UK Wants the Royal Navy to Return Channel Boats to France
Government Faces Pressure Over Charity Funding Linked to Illegal Israeli Settlements
UK Fire Chiefs Demand Ban on Disposable Barbecues During Severe Drought
Medical Review Warns Current Breast Cancer Guidelines Miss Many Young Women
NHS Mental Health Trust Announces Twenty-Five Million Pound Service Cuts
MI6 Rated Europe’s Most Capable Foreign Intelligence Service in International Review
UK Watchdog Finds Serious Failures in Electronic Offender Monitoring System
BP Chief Warns UK Must Protect Domestic Oil and Gas Capacity
Water Supply Crisis Threatens England’s Housing Expansion Plans
UK Government Rewrites Procurement Rules to Prioritise Jobs Over Environmental Targets
English Channel Rescue Operation Saves One Hundred Seventy-Three Migrants After Boat Capsizes
Gatwick Airport Wins Legal Approval for Second Runway Expansion
UK Government Tightens Early Prison Release Scheme After Public Backlash Over Offender Freedoms
US and Japan Step In to Support the Yen in Rare Joint Intervention
The AI Pricing Problem: Companies Cannot Predict Their Own Bills
Europe’s Heat and Drought Are Now Disrupting Power, Shipping and Tourism
Apple’s OpenAI Lawsuit Becomes a Public Fight Over AI Hardware
UK Man Jailed After Keeping His Mother’s Body in a Freezer and Claiming £78,000
A SpaceX Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon — and Scientists Hope to Watch
World War II munitions discovered after wildfires in southern France
BP profits reach four-year high amid Middle East conflict
Europe’s Drying Rivers Trigger Power Cuts, Factory Shutdowns and Wildfire Emergencies
UK Driver Sentenced to Four Years for Staged Electric Vehicle Brake Failure Fraud
Conservative Party and Reform UK Face Scrutiny During Clacton By-Election Campaign
Ministry of Justice Reviews Early Release Rules After Public Anger Over Police Killer Cases
NHS Radiographers Report Rising Racist Abuse From Patients Across UK Hospitals
UK Banking Regulators Face Pressure After Customer Loses Fourteen Thousand Pounds in AI Voice Scam
Research Challenges Treasury Control Over UK Public Spending and Calls for Greater Local Decision-Making
Home Office Begins Four-Week Weapons Surrender Campaign Across Major English Cities
Southern England Records Driest July in Nearly Two Centuries as Drought Concerns Grow
Apple Challenges UK Government Request for Access to Encrypted User Data in Legal Fight
×