LONDON — The WhatsApp honey trap scandal that has shaken Westminster politics is “very serious,” a British government minister said Friday, after a senior Tory MP revealed his own part in it.
Treasury Minister Gareth Davies was responding after Conservative William Wragg said he had shared the numbers of colleagues with a man on dating app Grindr, who he feared “had compromising things on me.”
POLITICO first revealed Wednesday that MPs, staffers and journalists in Westminster have been targeted with alluring WhatsApp messages from two unknown phone numbers that, in several cases, escalated to the sender sending explicit images.
Not all of those targeted had met Wragg in the past, and several on the Labour side raised questions about whether he would have had their number, POLITICO’s London Playbook reported.
But speaking to Times Radio, Davies said: “It’s obviously extremely troubling and very serious. Will has recognized the seriousness and apologized. People do make mistakes, of course they do.” Wragg will retain the Conservative whip after apologizing.
Wragg, chair of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee, stunned Westminster on Thursday evening when he told the Times that the person in question “wouldn’t leave me alone.”
He said: “They would ask for people. I gave them some numbers, not all of them. I told him to stop. He’s manipulated me and now I’ve hurt other people.”
Davies said he had not personally been contacted in a similar way — but urged anyone who felt they’d been a victim of blackmail to go to the police.
‘Scared’
To date 13 men are known to have received messages from the numbers, with at least five reporting them to the Parliamentary Security Department. The true number targeted may never be known. Some senior Tories have suggested a foreign state could be behind the attack.
The messages received by all the men tended to arrive late at night, claim they had met their targets in a Westminster bar or political event, and use similar phrases like “had a little flirt.”
Wragg is the MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester. He had already announced, before news of the scandal broke, that he planned to stand down at the next election.
In one message seen by POLITICO, the sender — giving their name as “Charlie” — told a victim they previously worked for Wragg.
‘Very reckless’
Wragg’s colleagues on the Commons public administration committee — which scrutinizes the inner workings of Whitehall — rallied around him Friday.
One MP on the committee, granted anonymity to speak freely about the make-up of the committee, said Wragg “has been a very good chair and continues to be a very good chair” of the committee.
They said they had “no anger or frustration with Will.”
“These things happen,” the MP said. “Foolish things happen. … It’s a good story but I’m not sure it should be life changing for the life of PACAC.”
A second committee MP said of Wragg’s conduct: “It’s a sad story but he was very reckless.”
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle told MPs and staff Thursday that the Parliamentary Security Department is working with “partners in government” to “analyze and understand the nature of these messages and any related security risk.”
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