If only MPs showed some common sense
WE thought that we had seen everything in the often grubby world of Westminster.
Cheating MPs fiddling their expenses. Sex and lobbying scandals. and peers snorting cocaine with prostitutes.
But just when it seemed our politicians couldn’t sink any lower in the eyes of the electorate, a Tory MP finds himself caught in a sexting honeytrap.
William Wragg is 36 and an unmemorable backbencher. When boris Johnson’s regime was shrouded in sleaze claims, he led the coup, portraying himself as a fearless torchbearer for standards in public life.
Today, he is exposed as a shameless hypocrite. Motivated by personal vanity and base desire, Mr Wragg recklessly posted explicit pictures of himself on a dating app.
Having received the compromising images, the person who gulled him then blackmailed the politician into leaking the personal phone numbers of others in Parliament.
Those colleagues, including at least three MPs, were sent flirtatious messages and naked photos from an unknown number. It defies belief that two of the MPs responded with their own X-rated snaps.
What possessed them to display such abysmal judgment? Like many of this narcissistic breed, they revel in their status as VIPs in their own constituencies and minor celebrities on the national stage, often believing themselves untouchable.
But they are elected to represent us with dignity, make our laws and protect the country. Is it really too much to expect middle-aged MPs to have their libidos sufficiently under control that they don’t send intimate photos to strangers online?
It is, of course, easy to snigger at the peccadilloes of deluded and vainglorious politicians. There is, though, a deadly serious side to this unedifying episode.
Maybe on this occasion the ‘honeytrap’ was set by a disgruntled ex-Parliamentary employee determined to cause mischief. but crucially, we don’t yet know.
It may have been a cyber-attack by foreign spies to induce victims to reveal confidential information – a tactic known as ‘spear phishing’. after all, the security services have explicitly warned politicians to be on alert for efforts to entrap them.
Just last week the Deputy Prime Minister said China, russia and other hostile regimes are working tirelessly to steal secrets they can use to weaken and divide this country.
With the police now investigating, Mr Wragg has issued a self-pitying mea culpa. but rather than resigning, he has retained the Tory whip and his apology was praised as ‘courageous’ by the Cabinet.
But this was not courage. He spinelessly caved in to a blackmailer and exposed others in Westminster to potential harm.
This whole saga has been both embarrassing and damaging. It is vital for the nation’s security that MPs take every precaution against espionage – starting with the application of some basic common sense.