Tory MP Conor Burns' 'hacked' tweets demand Brexit bill 'facts'
The Conservative, an aide to Boris Johnson, is claiming he was not behind posts calling for "hard facts" from a top EU official.
Wednesday 30 August 2017 22:05, UK
A Tory MP and aide to Boris Johnson has claimed his Twitter account was hacked after it sent a series of posts demanding "hard facts" from the EU over the UK's Brexit bill.
Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns, who serves as the Foreign Secretary's parliamentary private secretary, had appeared to directly tackle a top Brussels official on the issue of Britain's divorce settlement.
Mr Burns' account sent a string of now-deleted messages on Wednesday to Michel Barnier, the European Commission's chief Brexit negotiator.
The posts, all tweeted to Mr Barnier's account, read: "Why don't you publish how you are calculating UK bill based on law: ie Treaty obligations and directives? Hard facts help.
"Britain pays her obligations. Why don't you publish them based on law ie Treaty obligations and directives. Legal facts help.
"UK pays her obligations. Why don't you publish what you think they are based on law ie Treaty obligations and directives?"
But the Conservative politician, who supported Leave during the EU referendum, later appeared to deny he was the author of the tweets.
He posted: "Have been out on visits since 10am this morning. Home to find both twitter and email hacked. Passwords changed."
After that post, Mr Burns also retweeted an expletive-laden message from a user accusing him of "trolling" Mr Barnier and asking whether he was behaving like US President Donald Trump.
Legal commentator David Allen Green suggested the author of the tweets to Mr Barnier must have been "informed", posting on his own account: "The tweets make a distinction between UK liability under treaty obligations and directives.
"Not even all lawyers would know distinction."
He added: "So: the @ConorBurnsUK hacker is either an expert on EU law and/or the Brexit budget issue or...
"...someone with access to exact same papers and briefings on Brexit which, say, a PPS to a foreign secretary would have."
The calculation of Britain's divorce payment is one of three issues - along with the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and the Irish border - the European Council has demanded "significant progress" over before it will allow Brexit negotiations to proceed to talks on a future trading relationship.
Amid the , Mr Barnier tweeted on Wednesday: "Negotiations ongoing: #EUCO guidelines are designed for serious and constructive negotiations, but we need clear #UK positions on all issues."