Conservative MP William Wragg has resigned as the vice chair of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs after disclosing personal phone numbers of fellow MPs to someone on a dating app. Wragg is also expected to step down as chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. Last week, Wragg had told The Times newspaper that he was targeted in a suspected honeytrap plot connected to Westminster. Reports of unsolicited messages being sent to MPs are being investigated by the Metropolitan Police; up to 20 people in political circles may have received suspicious texts.
Two Conservative MPs, as well as some Westminster journalists, have revealed that they have been targeted in recent days. One MP reported being a victim of cyber-flashing and malicious messages. Luke Evans, who represents Bosworth, contacted the police after receiving messages. Meanwhile, Andrea Jenkyns, MP for Morley and Outwood, said that she had received messages and described Wragg as an “idiot for compromising security”.
Wragg stated in an interview last week that he was “mortified” and apologised for causing “other people hurt”. He said that he had exchanged pictures with someone on a dating app, with plans to meet up, but then received requests for phone numbers of other MPs. Feeling manipulated due to compromising things that they had on him, he provided some of the numbers but not all of them.
Elected as an MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester in 2015, Wragg served as the vice chair of the 1922 Committee, which represents Conservative backbench MPs’ views and manages leadership elections. In 2022, he declared that he would not stand in the upcoming general election. Wragg has not been suspended as a Conservative MP, although at least one Tory MP has reportedly contacted the party’s whips’ office to suggest that he should be
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