Politicians are people that we see and read about all the time. However, the content we have access to is usually focused on their professional lives, rather than their love lives. Whenever we get a sneak peak into what happens in the intimate realm for these men and women, we are thrilled. Boris Johnson has often delivered the goods on this front, with a colourful dating history. Unfortunately for Tory MP William Wragg, the recent revelations involving him are particularly juicy.
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It transpires that Wragg, who is openly gay, was duped on the dating app Grindr. Wragg is the chair of a Commons select committee, and recently admitted to having shared the personal phone numbers of people he works with to a man he met online. Here’s what we know about William Wragg, and about what happened.
Who is William Wragg?
William Wragg is Conservative MP for Hazel Grove. On his website, he explains: ‘I've lived here all my life and I'm passionate about representing and improving the area.’ He has been an MP since 2015 and is one of the 65 MPs who are part of the LGBT+ community.
Wragg has admitted that he shared the numbers of MPs, Commons staff and a political journalist with the man from Grindr. He has apologised, and acknowledged he has ‘hurt people by being weak’.
Wragg has explained: ‘I got chatting to a guy on an app and we exchanged pictures. We were meant to meet up for drinks, but then didn't.’
Then he started asking for numbers of people. I was worried because he had stuff on me. He gave me a WhatsApp number, which doesn't work now.
Having sent an intimate image of himself, Wragg was ‘scared’ that this ‘compromising’ content could be used against him. The politician has since resigned the whip and stood down from two positions. He has stepped down as chair of the Commons’ public administration and constitutional affairs committee and let go of his post as the vice-chair of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers.
Honeytrap scandal
This honeytrap scheme has been investigated by the police. It turns out that this same person, calling themselves either ‘Charlie’ or ‘Abi’, contacted others in the hope of manipulating them. 12 men contacted Politico to say that they had received very similar messages, and some of them also received naked pictures.
A former MP who was targeted spoke to the BBC, and explained that he received a message from a number he didn’t recognise. ‘Charlie’ claimed to remember him from their time working together in Parliament. He explained:
I was starting to feel bad actually. I was embarrassed thinking I'm speaking to someone who knows who I am and I'm trying desperately not to come across as rude.
As the messages got more and more flirtatious, the former MP explained that he was in a relationship. When ‘Charlie’ sent an explicit image, he blocked him.
Overall, Wraggs’ colleagues have been very understanding. This ex-MP said:
He's a friend, my heart goes out to him and I certainly don't hold any ill-will towards him. I want him to know that.
Another Conservative MP Bob Seely said he felt for Wraggs as he is ‘not the first’ to fall for such a scheme: ‘I'm afraid this is part of a modern political life, whether it's honeytraps, cyber-attacks or phishing of some kind or other.’
This comes just weeks after the parliament faced accusations about the existence of an ‘Evil Plotters’ WhatsApp group.
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Sources used:
BBC: William Wragg: Tory gave MPs' numbers to dating app contact, report says
Metro: Tory ‘so sorry’ for leaking fellow MP phone numbers on Grindr
Guardian: Senior Tory ‘mortified’ after reportedly passing MPs’ data to dating app contact
The Guardian: William Wragg resigns from two Commons roles after divulging MPs’ phone numbers
