Honeytrap plot MP William Wragg 'quits senior Tory and Commons roles' after ... trends now
A senior Tory MP has quit top party and Commons jobs after revealing he gave away colleagues phone numbers after being honeytrapped on a gay dating app.
William Wragg has reportedly stepped down as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, the backbench Conservative organisation, and as chairman of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC).
The MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester admitted last week that he had given his colleagues' phone numbers away to a Grindr contact for fear of intimate images of himself being leaked.
Scotland Yard has said it is investigating reports of the so-called 'honeytrap' scam after it was suggested that at least 12 men in political circles - including journalists - received unsolicited messages, raising security concerns.
It came as Mr Wragg was criticised by more of his Tory colleagues for his actions, amid some calls for him to be suspended by the party.
Speaking on GB News, former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: 'William Wragg, who is at the centre of a storm ... has always been willing, in his glass house, to throw stones when people have fallen below his high standards.
'So the question arises of how much sympathy does he deserve for falling for a pretty obvious honey trap, sending deeply insalubrious photographs over the internet, and then revealing telephone numbers that he held as a matter of trust for other politicians?'
It comes after MP William Wragg admitted passing on phone numbers of MPs due to fears about blackmail
Mr Wragg said last week he was sorry for his 'weakness' in responding, an apology which was praised as 'courageous and fulsome' by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
But pressure has mounted in recent days amid concerns over parliamentary security, with critics from across the political divide questioning his behaviour.
Tory MP Dame Andrea Jenkyns branded Mr Wragg an 'idiot' for 'compromising security' as she revealed she had also been targeted with a spear-phishing text.
'I too received the WhatsApp & reported it,' she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
'It was worded identical mentioning 'Conference'. Unlike some MPs I am not happy with £Wragg as a mother with a young child who only recently had threats, it's unforgivable of him to compromise the security of fellow MPs. Action is needed!'
Following Mr Wragg's revelations in The Times newspaper, Conservative MP for Bosworth Luke Evans claimed he was the victim of "cyber flashing" and was the member who first alerted police
