David Cameron has been caught on video speaking to a Russian impostor pretending to be a former Ukrainian president.
The foreign secretary can be seen talking to someone purporting to be Petro Poroshenko, who was the president from 2014 to 2019, about Labour, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the casual video call, published by website Guido Fawkes, Lord Cameron said he does not think Britain’s approach to the war in Ukraine would change under a Labour government.
And, in the 15-minute video call, he said the former US president, who could return to the White House after November’s election, would want to “back the winning side” in the conflict.
Mr Poroshenko, who was defeated in 2019 by Volodymyr Zelensky, has remained a prominent figure in the country since leaving office.
The Foreign Office said the perpetrators behind the call are “clearly Russian”, adding that “disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook”.
Earlier this month, the UK government made the hoax call public knowledge to stave off any attempts to manipulate video footage of the former prime minister from the communications.
Asked by the imposter if he believes anything will change after the general election, Lord Cameron says Labour has been “as enthusiastic” in their support for Ukraine as the Conservatives.
He said: “I don’t think you’ll see change. Obviously if they win it will be a new government, there will be some getting up to speed on some issues, but I think fundamentally they’ve supported everything we’ve done.
“I think the Labour Party, if they win, will continue that approach.”
Asked about his engagement with former US president and current presidential candidate Mr Trump, Lord Cameron says the Republican would want to “back the winning side” in Ukraine but his attitude is “hard to predict”.
If we can make sure that Ukraine is on the front foot and Putin is on the back foot by November, then (Donald Trump) will want to support the winning side, as it were, and that’s what we’ve got to ensure
Lord Cameron
He says: “I had dinner with (Trump) and my aim was to convince him not to block money for Ukraine, because obviously the speaker, Mike Johnson, wanted two things: he wanted to vote the money for Ukraine but he also wanted to keep his job, and I thought it was important to try to make sure that Trump backed him sufficiently to do that, which is what happened in the end.”
He adds: “I think ultimately (Trump) will calculate at the time what’s right for him.
“I think the key thing is if we can make sure that Ukraine is on the front foot and Putin is on the back foot by November, then he will want to support the winning side, as it were, and that’s what we’ve got to ensure.
“It’s hard to predict exactly what his attitude will be but that’s the most important thing.”
Lord Cameron is only the latest high profile politician to fall victim to a hoax. Last year former home secretary Suella Braverman was duped into accepting a comedy show’s “D*ck of the Year” award while launching a small boat in her constituency.
And former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng once offered to set up a meeting between a fake foreign firm and former prime minister Boris Johnson during a sting interview organised by campaign group Led By Donkeys.
Elsewhere in the video, the imposter can be heard saying that not sending Ukraine an invitation to Nato is a “bad signal”.
In response, Lord Cameron says: “There’s not going to be an invitation because America won’t support one.
“So what I’ve said to the president, (Volodymyr) Zelensky, is: let’s try and get the best language we can about Nato support for Ukraine. But don’t, let’s not, we mustn’t have an argument between Nato and Ukraine before the summit.”
Later in the video, Lord Cameron discloses a conversation he had with Kazakhstan’s foreign secretary Murat Nurtleu during a visit to the country earlier this year.
Lord Cameron says: “Kazakhstan are convinced that Putin wants a slice of the north of Kazakhstan.
“(Nurtleu) said Ukrainians are dying for Kazakhstan, they are putting their lives at risk to hold back Russia and that benefits us.”
At the end of the call, the imposter says: “Thank you, my friend. It was nice to see you again, and I remember our first meeting with Lord Hague and Bernard and Lily Vie.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “As you know, we made public the fact that this call happened weeks ago, to do the right thing and make sure others were warned of the risk at the earliest opportunity.
“The Foreign Secretary understood this was a private call with a Ukrainian politician.
“This is clearly Russian, and is standard practice for information operations.
“Disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there.”