British MP admits leaking phone numbers of colleagues who were later targeted in honey trap scandal

London

A senior Tory MP has admitted to leaking personal phone numbers of colleagues who were later targeted in the honey trap scandal. According to a report by The Times on Thursday (Apr 4), William Wragg said that he was "mortified" after giving numbers to a man he encountered on the dating app Grindr who “had compromising things on me.”

“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 told the publication. 

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The development was first reported by Politico on Wednesday after Members of Parliament (MPs) were targeted in a "spear-phishing" attack. Six men- four staffers, a political journalist, and one senior Labour MP- received unsolicited WhatsApp messages from two suspicious mobile numbers between October 2023 and February this year. 

So far, 13 men received such messages, and five of these reported the messages to the Parliamentary Security Department.

Conversations started the same way

The suspicious conversations on WhatsApp started the same way, Politico reported. The sender claimed to have met the recipient at a political event or venue. The sender would then typically voice faux-embarrassment at not being remembered by their target.

All messages were sent by one of the two numbers calling themselves alternatively “Abi” or “Charlie.”

The Politico report added that most of these WhatsApp messages contained personalised references to victims' appearances at political events and drinking spots in the United Kingdom (UK). 

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In three cases, the sender used near-identical language, claiming they and their target previously “had a little flirt.” In four other cases, the sender turned the conversation sexual, and in three of these cases sent explicit images.

The report also highlighted that the sender often displayed extensive knowledge of their target and their movements within Westminster politics.

Situation being analysed

On Thursday, House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle told MPs and staff that the Parliament Security Department was working with government partners to analyse and understand the nature of these messages and any related security risks.

The police, meanwhile, have launched an investigation into the incident. 

(With inputs from agencies)