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| William Wragg: Tory MP resigns party whip over Westminster honeytrap | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| William Wragg, who admitted sharing fellow MPs' personal phone numbers with someone on a dating app, has "voluntarily" given up the Conservative whip. | William Wragg, who admitted sharing fellow MPs' personal phone numbers with someone on a dating app, has "voluntarily" given up the Conservative whip. |
| He will now sit as an independent MP in the House of Commons. | He will now sit as an independent MP in the House of Commons. |
| Mr Wragg has also given up his roles on the 1922 backbench committee and the Public Administration Committee. | Mr Wragg has also given up his roles on the 1922 backbench committee and the Public Administration Committee. |
| Last week, he told The Times he had been targeted by a suspected Westminster honeytrap plot. | Last week, he told The Times he had been targeted by a suspected Westminster honeytrap plot. |
| The Hazel Grove MP said he had been chatting with someone on an app who subsequently asked him for the numbers of others. | The Hazel Grove MP said he had been chatting with someone on an app who subsequently asked him for the numbers of others. |
| "They had compromising things on me. They wouldn't leave me alone.... I gave them some numbers, not all of them." | "They had compromising things on me. They wouldn't leave me alone.... I gave them some numbers, not all of them." |
| Wragg quits Commons jobs over Westminster honeytrap | Wragg quits Commons jobs over Westminster honeytrap |
| How I was targeted in the Westminster honeytrap | How I was targeted in the Westminster honeytrap |
| Hunt praises MP's apology over dating app incident | Hunt praises MP's apology over dating app incident |
| He told the newspaper: "I'm so sorry my weakness has caused other people hurt." | He told the newspaper: "I'm so sorry my weakness has caused other people hurt." |
| Up to 20 people in political circles are reported to have received unsolicited messages, which have included explicit photos. | Up to 20 people in political circles are reported to have received unsolicited messages, which have included explicit photos. |
| The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is investigating reports of the messages being sent to MPs. | The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is investigating reports of the messages being sent to MPs. |
| Leicestershire Police has said the force is "investigating a report of malicious communications". | Leicestershire Police has said the force is "investigating a report of malicious communications". |
| Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Mr Wragg had "rightly apologised for what he's done". | |
| Asked why he had not acted to remove the Tory whip from the MP, the prime minister said Mr Wragg was "subject to a live police investigation" and there was "a limit to what I can say". | |
| But, he added, it was "a good reminder to everybody in public life about being sceptical of incoming unsolicited messages". | |
| Who is William Wragg? | |
| Born in 1987 in Manchester, he attended local state schools before gaining a first-class history degree at the University of Manchester. | |
| He trained as a primary school teacher and served as a local councillor on Stockport Council from 2011 to 2015. | |
| Mr Wragg was first elected MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester in the 2015 general election. In the 2019 election, he had a majority of 4,423 over the Liberal Democrat candidate. | |
| He backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum and, when David Cameron resigned following the vote to leave the EU, campaigned for Andrea Leadsom against Theresa May in the Tory leadership contest. | |
| In 2020, he was elected by MPs to chair the cross-party Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, whose primary role in to scrutinise the civil service. | |
| He was among Conservatives who joined the lockdown-sceptic COVID Recovery Group, and also signed a letter accusing a National Trust report on colonialism of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'". | |
| Mr Wragg was one of the first Tory MPs to publicly call for Boris Johnson to resign as prime minister over Partygate, and later for Liz Truss to quit as PM. | |
| In November 2022, having taken a short break earlier in the year to recover from depression, he announced he would stand down as an MP at the next general election. | |
| Mr Wragg, who is gay, lives in his Hazel Grove constituency. | |
| Since last week, when the website Politico first reported that people in Westminster had been receiving suspicious messages from senders named Charlie and Abi, some politicians and political journalists have been coming forward with their own experiences. | Since last week, when the website Politico first reported that people in Westminster had been receiving suspicious messages from senders named Charlie and Abi, some politicians and political journalists have been coming forward with their own experiences. |
| Bosworth MP Luke Evans said he had been a "victim of cyber-flashing" after being sent an image of a naked woman. | Bosworth MP Luke Evans said he had been a "victim of cyber-flashing" after being sent an image of a naked woman. |
| Another former MP told the BBC he had received flirtatious messages and an explicit picture from someone who claimed to remember them from their time working in Parliament. | Another former MP told the BBC he had received flirtatious messages and an explicit picture from someone who claimed to remember them from their time working in Parliament. |
| On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Conservative whips - who are in charge of party discipline - said: "Following Will Wragg's decision to step back from his roles on the Public Administration and 1922 committees, he has also notified the chief whip that he is voluntarily relinquishing the Conservative whip." | On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Conservative whips - who are in charge of party discipline - said: "Following Will Wragg's decision to step back from his roles on the Public Administration and 1922 committees, he has also notified the chief whip that he is voluntarily relinquishing the Conservative whip." |
| The 36-year-old's departure from the Conservative parliamentary party is quite a downfall for a man who until Monday night was the vice-chair of the 1922 committee, which brings together all backbench MPs in the party. | The 36-year-old's departure from the Conservative parliamentary party is quite a downfall for a man who until Monday night was the vice-chair of the 1922 committee, which brings together all backbench MPs in the party. |
| The party whips have been clear that his decision to resign from his role was voluntary, although the party chair Richard Holden has already said it is "the right thing to have done". | The party whips have been clear that his decision to resign from his role was voluntary, although the party chair Richard Holden has already said it is "the right thing to have done". |
| Mr Holden told Sky News: "It's quite clear his career in public life is at an end." | Mr Holden told Sky News: "It's quite clear his career in public life is at an end." |
| While many MPs have expressed sympathy for their colleague - Chancellor Jeremy Hunt praised his "courageous" apology - some MPs had privately expressed surprise that Mr Wragg has not lost the Conservative whip and at least one Tory MP had contacted the whips' office to say he should be suspended from the parliamentary party. | While many MPs have expressed sympathy for their colleague - Chancellor Jeremy Hunt praised his "courageous" apology - some MPs had privately expressed surprise that Mr Wragg has not lost the Conservative whip and at least one Tory MP had contacted the whips' office to say he should be suspended from the parliamentary party. |
| There was also a danger of his continued presence in the parliamentary party becoming a factional issue. | There was also a danger of his continued presence in the parliamentary party becoming a factional issue. |
| Mr Wragg upset some of those close to Boris Johnson by being one of the first to call for him to go in the aftermath of the Partygate revelations. | |
| He had also publicly demanded that Liz Truss step down as prime minister. One of her allies, Jacob Rees-Mogg, this week questioned the sympathy he has received, saying Mr Wragg had "always been willing to throw stones when people have fallen below his high standards." | He had also publicly demanded that Liz Truss step down as prime minister. One of her allies, Jacob Rees-Mogg, this week questioned the sympathy he has received, saying Mr Wragg had "always been willing to throw stones when people have fallen below his high standards." |
| Andrea Jenkyns, a supporter of Mr Johnson, said Mr Wragg had been "an idiot for compromising security". | Andrea Jenkyns, a supporter of Mr Johnson, said Mr Wragg had been "an idiot for compromising security". |
| Mr Wragg's decision to resign the whip may take some heat off the prime minister, although critics may continue to question why Rishi Sunak did not take stronger action himself - Labour's Pat McFadden said it was "another indictment of Rishi Sunak's weakness". | Mr Wragg's decision to resign the whip may take some heat off the prime minister, although critics may continue to question why Rishi Sunak did not take stronger action himself - Labour's Pat McFadden said it was "another indictment of Rishi Sunak's weakness". |
| For now, Mr Wragg will sit as an independent. His friends don't think he has any intention of resigning as an MP, after announcing in 2022 his plan to leave politics at the next election. | |
| It is a career as an MP that was always going to draw to a close this year, but has not ended in the way he would have hoped. | It is a career as an MP that was always going to draw to a close this year, but has not ended in the way he would have hoped. |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| UK Parliament | UK Parliament |
| William Wragg | William Wragg |