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Senior MP William Wragg has quit the Conservative Parliamentary Party after admitting giving colleagues’ phone numbers to a man he was in contact with on Grindr, the gay dating app.
According to a party spokesperson, he has voluntarily stood down as a Conservative, meaning Wragg will sit as an independent MP in the House of Commons.
Wragg is at the center of Westminster’s so-called honeytrap sexting scandal involving at least 17 cases of individuals receiving unsolicited messages from an individual calling himself “Charlie” or “Abi”. As well as Wragg, messages sent included Conservative MPs Luke Evans and Dame Andrea Jenkyns.
The person behind the messages in some cases sent explicit images and solicited sexual content.
Wragg told the Times last week that he had given the phone numbers of several MPs to a man he was in contact with on Grindr after being blackmailed over images he had shared with the same person.
The MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester, who is gay, said he shared the contact details because he was “scared” the person “had compromising things about me”.
Wragg was criticized at the weekend by several MPs and political commentators who said the 36-year-old had demonstrated poor judgement, meaning his various parliamentary roles were untenable.
On Monday it emerged that Wragg had resigned from his post as vice-chairman of the 1922 Backbench Conservative MPs Committee and his role as chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
This came after the Metropolitan Police said it had launched an investigation into the sexting scandal in Westminster, urging MPs who fell prey to a suspected “spear-phishing” attack to come forward to the authorities. Leicestershire Police are also investigating the case.
The government has not attributed these messages to the activity of a hostile state, such as Russia, but there has been widespread speculation in Westminster about the people or organization responsible.
Downing Street on Monday advised politicians to approach the unsolicited messages with scepticism, but refrained from further comment due to the police investigation.
Several senior members of the government expressed sympathy for Wragg. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday that the MP had “made a stupid mistake and apologized for it” and “I don’t think he should resign” from the 1922 committee.
Wragg had already intended to stand down as MP at the general election due later this year.
He has been contacted for comment.