William Wragg quits Tories amid sexting scandal

William Wragg has given up the Conservative whip - and can no longer sit as an MP for the party - just days after he admitted to giving out his colleagues' personal phone numbers in a 'sexting scam'.

A Tory whips spokesperson said today: "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."

Wragg had resigned from his roles as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative Party backbenchers and leader of the Commons' Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee yesterday after details of his involvement in the scam came to light.

Last week, he had told the Times that he had leaked colleagues' personal numbers after he sent explicit images of himself - which left him "scared" the recipient of the images "had compromising things" on him.

The colleagues, which included a number of MPs, their staff members and one political journalist, were subsequently targeted by a "spear-phishing" scam which saw them receive flirtatious messages and explicit images from someone calling themselves either "Charlie" or "Abi".

Tory MP Luke Evans revealed that he was one of the politicians targeted in the scam, and claimed that he was the first MP to flag it to relevant authorities.

Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove, said: "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.

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"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."

Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into reports of the "honeytrap" after the publishing of Wragg's colleagues' details raised security concerns.

Leicestershire Police confirmed it is investigating a report of malicious communications after a number of unsolicited messages were sent to a Leicestershire MP last month.

His apology had prompted mixed reactions from senior political figures; while Chancellor Jeremy Hunt called it "courageous and fulsome", Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden called Wragg's behaviour "foolish".

Reform UK's deputy leader Ben Habib reacted to the news on social media, saying: "William Wragg should have [been] sacked. Not given the privilege to resign.

"He exposed his genitals to a stranger on an app then sold his colleagues down the drain to cover himself."

While a "senior Tory" told Sky News: "Rishi is so weak, Wragg decided he'd have to fire himself instead."