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A senior Tory MP has admitted that he handed over personal phone numbers of colleagues to a man with whom he was in contact on Grindr, a gay dating app, in the latest twist to a growing scandal involving suspected cyber attacks on Britain’s politicians.
William Wragg, chair of the public administration committee — and vice-chair of the 1922 committee of backbenchers — told The Times he had given the numbers to an individual he had met online.
Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester — who is openly gay — admitted he had previously sent the person intimate photos of himself, saying he was “scared” the man “had compromising things on me”.
In what appears to be a honeytrap sexting scandal, various colleagues of the 36-year-old Wragg were then sent unsolicited messages from senders calling themselves either “Abi” or “Charlie” — and some replied with explicit pictures of themselves.
The issue is now being investigating by Leicestershire police, which received a complaint of “malicious communications” against a parliamentarian.
Wragg also told Conservative whips about the matter, according to a person familiar with the issue.
The story about the apparent “spearphishing” — an attempt to gather incriminating information about influential people — first broke on Wednesday at which point more than a dozen victims were implicated.
Individuals were contacted by a person claiming to have previously met them in Westminster, with the conversation rapidly turning to demands for explicit pictures.
Wragg told The Times he was “mortified” about what he had done and apologised for his “weakness” and the potential hurt he had caused.
“They had compromising things on me. They wouldn’t leave me alone. 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,” he said.
“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.”
Wragg, who has announced his intention to stand down as an MP after the next election. could not be reached for comment.
Leicestershire police said officers were “investigating a report of malicious communications after a number of unsolicited messages were sent to an MP in the county last month”.
Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative leader, said this week that the approaches were an “assault on parliamentary democracy”.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said it was “almost certainly a foreign hostile state behind this”.
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