Boris Johnson 'communicated with Saudi crown prince over WhatsApp'

Boris Johnson exchanged WhatsApp messages with the Saudi Arabia crown prince, it has been reported.

The prime minister is said to have regularly sent texts to Mohammed bin Salman and handed out his private number to world leaders while foreign secretary.

The Telegraph reports that one government source was “99 per cent sure” that the pair communicated on the app.

It comes amid allegations that Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s phone was “hacked” after he opened a WhatsApp message sent from the account of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince.

Number 10 did not deny the claims, with Mr Johnson’s press secretary telling the newspaper: “It’s not something we would comment on.” The Foreign Office declined to comment.

Simon Collis, the UK ambassador to the oil-rich Arab country, is also understood to have communicated with the prince, known as MBS, on WhatsApp.

US billionaire Mr Bezos was allegedly sent a malicious video file in May 2018 by a personal number which is said to have belonged to MBS, which was used to hack his phone and extract information.

Private messages between British officials and their Saudi counterparts are “commonplace”, according to Foreign Office insiders, who say staff send football jokes and condolences for tragedies to young Middle Eastern leaders who “love their phones”.

Four sources contacted by The Telegraph said they had reason to suspect Mr Johnson and MBS spoke on WhatsApp, while others said the UK ambassador did the same.

One former Foreign Office official said of Mr Johnson: “He definitely had his number and would ping him the occasional message,” adding he was “99 per cent sure” words were exchanged.

Another said the prime minister often gave his personal number to world leaders while foreign secretary between 2016 and 2018.

While WhatsApp is protected by end-to-end encryption, it is regarded as far less secure than official government communications forums. David Cameron is also thought to have used the medium while prime minister, but Theresa May was said to have stuck to more formal methods.

Saudi Arabia’s US embassy has branded claims of the alleged hacking activity “absurd”, but the UN has demanded an investigation.