I was target of Westminster honeytrap too, says BBC man
A BBC journalist revealed yesterday that he too was targeted in the Westminster sexting honeytrap scandal.
Henry Zeffman, the corporation’s chief political correspondent, went public about being contacted in a so-called ‘spear phishing’ attempt over WhatsApp.
He was the second journalist in as many days to reveal that they were targeted after Harry Yorke, a journalist at The Sunday Times, also said he received flirtatious messages from a WhatsApp user calling themselves ‘Charlie’. MPs were targeted as well.
It comes after William Wragg, who last night was reported to have stood down as vice- chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, admitted passing on phone numbers of MPs due to fears about blackmail.
Mr Zeffman broke his silence yesterday by writing about his experience for the BBC’s website, revealing he was contacted by both ‘Abi’ and ‘Charlie’.
He wrote: ‘It started with a WhatsApp on a Sunday morning in March. Coming from a number I did not have saved in my phone, it read: “Henry! Long time no speak – how’re you doing? Miss seeing you around Westminster x.”
‘“V sorry,” I replied. “Who is this?” ‘The response was instant. “Haha it’s Charlie! I used to work in Parliament and we swapped numbers after drinking one night.” ’
Mr Zeffman said he found the messages odd and did not reply, only to get another message a few minutes later saying: ‘Random Sunday message I know.’ Then ‘Charlie’, within minutes, added: ‘ I’m going to guess you aren’t still single – should I bow out gracefully? Lucky girl x.’
He blocked the sender. However, around 24 hours later another message arrived in his WhatsApp inbox from ‘Abi’.
Mr Zeffman wrote: ‘Instantly I was sure this was the same person as the day before.’
‘“Who is this?” I replied. “Abi Miller x.” They claimed to have previously been an intern at The Times, where I worked until last year.’
Mr Zeffman said he was ‘flustered’ and also blocked this sender.
Mr Wragg confessed last week that he had provided the details of some of those targeted to the honey-trapper after sending intimate pictures to a man he met on the gay dating app, Grindr.
The senior Tory told The Times he was ‘scared’ that whoever was behind the dating profile ‘had compromising things on me’ and he was sorry for ‘being weak’.
Scotland Yard yesterday said it has launched an inquiry into the scandal.
The force said its Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command was ‘carrying out an investigation following reports that a number of unsolicited messages were sent to MPs over recent months’.
It is the second force to investigate the scandal after Leicestershire Police announced on Thursday that it had received a report of ‘malicious communications’ involving a local MP.
Some Tory MPs believe Mr Wragg should have been disciplined after being left surprised that he will keep the Tory whip.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who admitted she was among those targeted, has called for action to be taken against him, accusing him of ‘unforgivable’ behaviour.
Sir Conor Burns MP said Mr Wragg’s behaviour had been ‘reckless, selfish and thoughtless’.
‘Scotland Yard launch inquiry’
BACK in 2001, I stood for Parliament in Hazel Grove, a North West constituency now firmly on the map thanks to one William Wragg.
He’s the infamous ‘honeytrap’ MP at the centre of a sexting scandal, who shared photographs of his private parts with an unknown person he met on the gay dating app Grindr. As you do.
Oh, and he then handed over the personal phone numbers of various MPs, Westminster staffers and journalists because he feared ‘exposure’ by his newfound Grindr pal.
He’s very sorry and has apologised for his ‘weakness’.
Some victims of the sting don’t think that’s good enough.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who was targeted in January via WhatsApp, says what Wragg’s done in putting MPs’ security at risk is ‘unforgivable’. And she’s right.
Dr luke evans, the excellent Tory MP for Bosworth, came forward at the weekend to say he’d been sent a picture of a naked woman and, doing the right thing, had immediately contacted the police.
I understand that the gay men who’ve been approached were sent images of naked men. Clearly, the information possessed by those perpetrating the sting was personal and detailed.
What is astounding is No 10’s response to all of this. As I write, Wragg is keeping the Tory whip and has even been praised by the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, for his ‘courageous and fulsome’ apology.
It makes you wonder why Tory high command is so protective of Wragg, a politician whose attributes and achievements in Westminster amount to very little, despite his role as vice-chairman of the all-powerful 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers – a role from which he reportedly stood down last night.
WHeN, on the rare occasion, his name has popped up in the media, it’s been because he’s a) being disloyal, b) complaining that the whips are bullying him, or c) attempting to remove a sitting prime minister.
Recently he attempted, and failed, to raise a pitchforkwielding, like-minded mob of MPs calling for the Speaker to resign.
I have always believed the deviousness of Wragg runs deep
— a Gollum-like character since the day he arrived in Westminster in 2015.
He was frequently to be found in the bars at the Commons and was a regular at the Carlton Club, drinking with a cohort of his fellow gay Tory MPs.
It was, of course, in the Carlton Club, now a shadow of its prime as the home of Conservative Party thinking, that a very refreshed Tory MP, Chris Pincher, groped two men one evening in June 2022. He pinched (I know, you couldn’t make it up) the backside of one of them.
That young man with the bruised posterior was a longstanding, close friend of William Wragg. As The Mail on Sunday revealed at the weekend, at the exact time that event took place, he texted Wragg with the words: ‘We’ve got him.’
So why would they want to ‘get’ him? Well, could it have been because Pincher was a loyal supporter of Boris Johnson, and an experienced Westminster operator who, as Deputy Chief Whip, was a key bridge of communications between the Prime Minister and MPs?
He did an almost impossible job keeping the ship steady during the most difficult days of Covid and Ukraine, and was in charge of Operation Save Big Dog, which aimed to prevent rebel MPs from ousting Boris.
What followed the Pincher allegations was a confected media outrage about what Boris knew — and when — of previous allegations about Pincher’s behaviour. These were largely engineered by a journalist close to Wragg (and most recently spotted at Wragg’s 36th birthday party in December last year).
The truth is that at a meeting in No 10 as the ‘scandal’ was unfolding, when Boris asked if anyone had anything to report about Pincher — known as a loyal foot soldier initially promoted by Theresa May — no one volunteered anything.
MeANWHIle, the outrage among a certain group of largely inexperienced MPs about the Carlton Club groping grew. They were after Pincher’s scalp to weaken support for Boris.
As detailed in my book, The Plot, the goal of certain key players at the heart of the Tory Party had always been their publicly stated intention to remove Johnson from the day he stepped over the threshold of No 10 in 2019 as elected PM — and replace him with Rishi Sunak.
The calls for Pincher to have the whip removed gathered a frenzied momentum — which Boris rightly resisted until a formal complaint had been made.
But the heat of pious indignation soared, and when Pincher resigned as Deputy Chief Whip on June 30, 2022, it triggered a tsunami of ministerial resignations in early July, instigated by the recently knighted Sajid Javid, whose departure was followed within minutes by that of Sunak.
Boris Johnson, unable to withstand the number of ministerial resignations, was forced to resign days later.
Chris Pincher was suspended from Westminster and quit in
September 2023 after losing an appeal against his suspension. He lost his Parliamentary career and his dream job in the Whips’ Office. If ever there was a victim of a honeytrap, it was Pincher.
With the passage of time, it looks and smells like an organised operation with external influences at play, and it might just explain No 10’s decision now to back Wragg all the way.
After all, MPs have had the whip removed for what some might perceive as lesser offences.
Neil Parish, the former Tory MP for Tiverton and Honiton and a farmer, admitted to looking at porn on his phone in the Commons (once, by accident, when shopping for a new tractor, he was directed to a site that delivered rather more than the John Deere 7R 290 he bargained for; and once in a ‘moment of madness’).
He lost the whip and, faced with the full force of outrage from female MPs, was forced to resign.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock lost the whip for agreeing to appear on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here and had to endure the ingestion of a camel penis, live on TV, for his troubles.
FOR Wragg, it would appear that the rules are different. No matter that he risked breaching the security of others in such a reckless and self-serving fashion, he is protected by the powers that be.
But voters aren’t daft. They see this surreal decision for him to remain in post for what it is: highly suspicious.
Sadly, Westminster is full of fifth rate characters such as William Wragg and too few hardworking, honourable MPs like Dr luke evans, an innocent victim of this sordid business.
When I became health minister, Dr evans hounded me — in a good way. He lobbied me to amend legislation to tackle the use of body altering filters on social media which can impact on mental health, especially of young women.
later, when I was made Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, he would pursue me down corridors, so focused was he on his campaign to make the internet a safer place.
I am still in contact with some of those who supported me in Hazel Grove more than 20 years ago and their opinion of Wragg is robust, to say the least. Many local party members want him gone — with immediate effect.
It’s not enough that he’s said he will stand down at the next election. They know it will cause a by-election which they will likely lose; but they no longer care.
They would rather risk that than endure another day with Wragg. What this constituency of hard- working, decent people want is an honest Dr luke evans, not the duplicitous ‘Toe Wragg’. Who can blame them.