Wragg gives up Conservative whip after handing over colleagues’ phone numbers
WILLIAM WRAGG has given up the Conservative whip after admitting handing over colleagues’ phone numbers in the Westminster honeytrap scandal.
It means he will now sit as an independent MP for his constituency of Hazel Grove, in Greater Manchester, rather than a Tory.
The party whips’ office said Mr Wragg gave up the whip voluntarily after relinquishing his roles on the 1922 Committee and the public administration and constitutional affairs committee.
A spokesman said: “Following Will Wragg’s decision to step back from his roles on the public accounts and 1922 committees, he has also notified the chief whip that he is voluntarily relinquishing the Conservative Whip.”
Richard Holden, the Conservative Party chairman, said it was right that Mr Wragg had given up the party whip.
He told Sky News: “He’s already issued a fulsome apology, he’s resigned from the 1922 Committee executive, he’s resigned from his role as chair of PACAC, which is an enforcement committee in Parliament, and he’s also given up the Conservative whip.
“I think we already knew he wouldn’t be standing at the next election.”
Asked whether there had been any influence from the party on Mr Wragg’s decision, Mr Holden said: “He’s made his decision. There’s an ongoing police investigation.”
Labour said Mr Wragg voluntarily giving up the whip showed the “weakness” of Rishi Sunak.
Pat Mcfadden, the party’s national campaign coordinator, said: “His MPS were left, yet again, being sent out to defend a position that has collapsed.”
Nigel Farage, the honorary president of Reform UK, wrote on social media: “So, the inevitable has happened and William Wragg has resigned the whip. No 10 and No 11 look stupid for backing him.”
Mr Wragg admitted last week that he had sent the numbers of colleagues to a man who contacted him on Grindr, a gay dating app, after he had sent intimate pictures of himself.
Several MPS, members of their staff and political journalists were later sent flirtatious texts, and in several cases explicit photos, from senders with the aliases “Charlie” or “Abi”.
The Metropolitan Police is leading an investigation into the scandal, in which around 20 Westminster figures have been targeted. Among them was Dr Luke Evans, the Tory MP for Bosworth.
Mr Wragg had kept the Tory whip until yesterday after apologising for his actions, and had been defended by senior figures within the party.
Last night, The Times reported that photos showing two students then in their late teens were shown to MPS who responded to the honeytrap. The photos, seen by The Telegraph, were taken from a man’s social media profiles.
One of the images was taken in a nightclub in the city where he was at university, and he was “tagged” posing with a friend. A second image, which was used by the honeytrapper, shows the apparent victim eating dinner on holiday with an unnamed woman.
The man, who The Telegraph has chosen not to name, deleted his social media profiles shortly after he was contacted about the photos yesterday. The images were later censored and published online by The Times.