To emphasise the scale of this GCHQ claim blunder, to tap the communications of the president-elect of an ally, or retrieve and release transcripts of communications recorded in bulk data, would require authorisation of the government, i.e the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister. Such authorisation would only be given if they were presented with evidence that the individual was an agent of a foreign power engaged in activities against the interests of the UK and its allies. In other words there was evidence Trump was committing treason.
This is clearly preposterous and why GCHQ, which never comments on security matters, issued a statement saying that the White House claim was ‘nonsense, utterly ridiculous and should be ignored’. As an official put down to the White House by the UK, this is almost unthinkable, especially as that statement itself would have been approved by Downing St. The White House has now apologized, but this has been a damaging episode in a series of mis-steps that must now end for the credibility of this Presidency not to be damaged beyond repair.