Donald Trump wiretap allegations: UK calls claim of its involvement 'ridiculous', White House backs down

Britain on Friday dismissed as "ridiculous" Donald Trump's allegations that it helped Barack Obama wire-tap him during the US presidential election and said it has received "assurances" from the White House that it will not repeat the claims.

"We've made clear to the (Trump) administration that these claims are ridiculous and they should be ignored and we've received assurances they won't be repeated," James Slack, spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May, said.

Trump had claimed that his Trump Tower residence in New York was under surveillance authorised by former President Obama and allegations of Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) involvement were initially made by former judge Andrew Napolitano.

"Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn't use the NSA (National Security Agency), he didn't use the CIA, he didn't use the FBI and he didn't use the Department of Justice, he used GCHQ," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had quoted Napolitano as saying.

Earlier, the GCHQ took the rare step of making a public statement about the allegations as a US Senate Committee concluded yesterday that there were "no indications" of Trump Tower being under surveillance by the US government before or after the election.

"Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wiretapping' against the then President-elect are nonsense," a GCHQ spokesperson said. "They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored," the spokesperson said.

Senior officials from GCHQ are also expected to make representations to its American counterpart, the NSA, about their concern over such allegations being made, British media reported.