UK computer users are being warned of a malicious email purporting to be about Tony Blair.

The emails were spammed out last night with the subject line: 'BBC: Tony Blair email account hacked!'. If users click on the link a series of Trojan programs are downloaded that monitor key strokes and could allow a hacker to take remote control.

"The computer underground knew that many in Britain would be following the latest political news this morning, and have deliberately created a bogus story about Blair's email account being hacked to lure people into clicking on the malicious link," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"Everyone should exercise extreme care about how they respond to unsolicited emails."

This is not the first time a hacker has used the government as a hook. In 2003 the Quaters-A worm contained a diatribe about Tony Blair's immigration policy, and used infected computers to launch a denial of service attack against the Downing Street website.