Numbers passed on

British MP fell into sexting trap

Sexting is the term used to describe the private exchange of self-produced photos or videos with erotic content.(Bild: Natee Meepian - stock.adobe.com)

A prominent MP from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party has been caught up in a blackmail scandal involving sexting messages. William Wragg, vice-chairman of an important parliamentary party committee, told the Times newspaper that he had exchanged intimate photos with a person he had met on a dating app for gay men. He was subsequently blackmailed with the pictures. The police are investigating.

The "Politico" portal had previously reported that several politicians, political advisors and journalists working in the parliamentary district had been contacted with personal messages and sexually explicit images. These were obviously attempts to compromise these people.

Wragg admitted that he had forwarded colleagues' private telephone numbers.(Bild: AFP)

Foreign secret service suspected as the mastermind
According to the Times, one other MP in addition to Tory MP Wragg responded to messages with his own photos. Wragg also admitted to having forwarded personal telephone numbers of colleagues to the contact. Alicia Kearns, the Conservative Chair of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, suspects that a foreign intelligence service was behind the plot.

"Disturbing and worrying"
On behalf of the government, Secretary of State for Finance Gareth Davies described the situation on Friday on GB News as "disturbing and worrying". He emphasized that Wragg had apologized. On the other hand, there were also calls from within the Tory party for the 36-year-old to resign or be suspended from the parliamentary group, as reported by "Politico".

Wragg, who is openly homosexual, had already announced some time ago that he would no longer be standing in the parliamentary elections planned for this year.