John McCain caught playing poker on iPhone during Syria meeting

US senator John McCain has been caught playing poker on his iPhone during a key hearing about the possible use of military force in Syria.

As secretary of state John Kerry and defence secretary Chuck Hagel addressed the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee meeting, Mr McCain decided to get a few hands in.

But he was caught by an eagle-eyed Washington Post photographer, who snapped him playing what he thought was a surreptitious game with the useame ‘J’s iPhone’.

The Republican senator, who ran for president in 2008, and had already decided to back military action against Syria, laughed off the matter.

He tweeted: ‘Scandal! Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing – worst of all I lost!’

McCain did what millions of us do during boring meetings at work, but his meeting conceed something more weighty than the latest sales forecast for widgets

As the news broke, Mr McCain was waiting to appear on CNN to discuss the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

‘Occasionally I get a little bored and so I resorted,’ he told the station, admitting he lost thousands of fake dollars.

For the benefit of poker aficionados the photo showed Mr McCain calling a $200 bet while holding $16,000 in fake chips.

The image of Senator McCain’s phone has been shared dozens of times by users on Twitter.