Britain’s new defence secretary once claimed his YouTube account was hacked into because the password was “1234” or something equally easy to guess.
Uneasy Tory MPs have taken to WhatsApp to re-share the story of how Grant Shapps explained the hack – which occurred ahead of a 2007 by-election.
Then the shadow housing minister, Mr Shapps claimed a comment under a Liberal Democrat campaign video was not made by him.
But the comment came from Mr Shapps’ official account. It cast doubt on the Lib Dems’ chances in the Ealing Southall contest, prompting allegations of astroturfing.
The comment said: “Okay, realistically we’re not going to win though. Especially since the Tories have just received 5 defecting Councillors from Labour. Don’t quite know how they’ve done it, but the Tories have stolen a march on us this time.”
Bloggers suggested Mr Shapps was trying to fake a comment to appear as though it was from a Lib Dem, but forgot which account he was logged into.
But, asked by broadcaster Iain Dale for an explanation, Mr Shapps claimed to have used a very easily guessable password similar to 1234.
A Conservative spokesman said at the time: “We have absolutely no idea how this post appeared, however it does appear someone has been accessing his account. The short password has now been changed to something more secure.
“In the past two days he has removed a number of posts from his own YouTube videos which had appeared without authorisation. We will be monitoring the account carefully and can’t rule out the activities of our opponents.”
On Friday Politico reported that the story was “pinging round WhatsApp groups” after Rishi Sunak promoted Mr Shapps to defence secretary.
Mr Shapps has also come under growing pressure to delete his TikTok account over security concerns.
The Chinese-owned app has been banned from official government devices over fears user data could be transferred to the Chinese government.
Then energy secretary Mr Shapps vowed to keep using TikTok on his personal phone despite the ban.
He posted a clip from the Wolf Of Wall Street in which Leonardo DiCaprio – playing a Wall Street banker – declares he is “not f***ing leaving”.
Pressure on Mr Shapps to quit TikTok has ramped up after his promotion to defence secretary. A Labour official told Playbook he “must now follow the rules of his own department and put our national security ahead of his own self promotion”.
A source close to Grant Shapps said: “Along with the Ministry of Defence, which maintains a long-standing official TikTok account, Grant knows that TikTok can be a valuable tool for communicating with his constituents.
“Aware of security concerns, he doesn’t have the app on his phone and the account is instead managed by his constituency staff.”
