White House tells the UK it won't baselessly accuse them of spying on Trump anymore

The government of the United Kingdom received an assurance from the White House that it won't make any more from-the-hip allegations that the Brits spied on then-candidate and now-President Donald Trump, according to the BBC.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer baselessly accused the U.K. of spying on Trump at the request of President Barack Obama.

The British tabloid the Telegraph went so far as to say that Spicer issued a formal apology to the United Kingdom.

Spicer made the allegation against GCHQ — a British intelligence agency — as he sought to defend Trump's debunked allegations of an Obama-ordered wiretap on Trump Tower. 

GCHQ vehemently denied the allegations — which were first reported by a Fox News analyst — calling them "nonsense" and adding that the charge was "utterly ridiculous and should be ignored." 

Falsely accusing the intelligence services of one of the United States' closest allies led Spicer and national security adviser H.R. McMaster to formally apologize to Britain, according to the Telegraph, whose report went further than the White House assurances reported by the BBC.

Spicer, for his part, has yet to publicly apologize to anyone for his accusations of spying, which came at a testy news conference in which Spicer refused to back down from Trump's wiretapping allegation.

Some British members of Parliament are not impressed by Spicer's allegations.

"Trump is compromising the vital U.K.-U.S. security relationship to try to cover his own embarrassment," Tim Farron, leader of the British Liberal Democrat Party, told the Telegraph. "This harms our and U.S. security."