Senior MP William Wragg resigned the Conservative whip Tuesday night as the Westminster honey trap scandal took another twist.
The Hazel Grove MP had already quit as chair of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC), and as vice chair of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs.
Wragg announced prior to the scandal he would not contest the next election.
But, in a further development Tuesday night, a spokesperson for the Conservative whips’ office said: “Following Will Wragg’s decision to step back from his roles on the Public Accounts and 1922 committees, he has also notified the Chief Whip that he is voluntarily relinquishing the Conservative Whip.”
Wragg admitted last week he was targeted by a scammer on the dating app Grindr and had leaked the personal phone numbers of a number of MPs, who were later also targeted in the phishing scandal. “I was scared. I’m mortified. I’m so sorry that my weakness has caused other people hurt,” he told the Times at the time.
Outcry
POLITICO first revealed last week that MPs, staffers, and journalists in Westminster had been targeted with alluring WhatsApp messages from two unknown phone numbers that, in several cases, escalated to the sender sending explicit images.
Wragg’s admission that he had shared some of his colleagues’ phone numbers with the honey trapper triggered a torrent of criticism from his fellow Tories, with former Secretary of State Nadine Dorries and Conservative MPs Andrea Jenkyns and Jacob Rees-Mogg all putting the boot in.
Others reacted with sympathy, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who praised Wragg’s decision to come forward and apologize. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government had declined to remove the whip from Wragg.
To date, POLITICO has verified directly that at least 21 people in U.K. politics were sent unsolicited WhatsApp messages by one or both of two phone numbers, which alternatively used the names “Charlie” or “Abi.” Among those targeted are Labour and Tory MPs, including a serving minister in the U.K. government.
At least two police forces are investigating the scandal, in London and Leicestershire.
