LONDON — Saying he was “mortified” to have played a part in a sexting scandal, a senior Conservative lawmaker in Rishi Sunak’s government admitted to having shared an intimate photo of himself and his colleagues’ personal phone numbers as a result of an apparent spear-phishing attack.
Westminster has been abuzz all week with reports that at least a dozen men in British political circles had in the past year received flirtatious messages from an unknown WhatsApp user.
Police said they were investigating. Lawmakers said they feared for their safety. Cybersecurity experts weighed in to suggest that foreign actors might be behind it, trying to compromise powerful people and get sensitive information.
Then, late Thursday, a piece of the puzzle fell into place. Lawmaker William Wragg, 36, came forward to apologize for having given out people’s personal contacts.
He said he had been blackmailed by someone he met on the Grindr dating app. He had, willingly, sent an explicit photo of himself, he said, which was then used as kompromat.
Speaking to the Times of London, Wragg 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.”
He explained further: “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. I’ve hurt people by being weak. I was scared. I’m mortified.”
It was a scandal the Conservative Party didn’t need. Even before, polls were suggesting that the party would be trounced in local elections next month and lose a general election later this year.
Wragg faced calls to resign. But party leaders stood behind him Friday.
Gareth Davies, a treasury minister, told Sky News that the reports were “incredibly troubling,” and that Wragg had “rightly apologized for the action he took. But I think it’s clear to anybody, hearing about the situation that he was in, people react in different ways.”
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, credited Wragg for a “courageous and fulsome” apology. Hunt tried to spin the situation as a teachable moment.
“The lesson here for all MPs is that they need to be very careful about cybersecurity, and indeed it is the lesson for members of the public as well, because this is something that we are all having to face in our daily lives,” he told broadcasters.
There have been plenty of warnings in Britain about cyberattacks.
Late last year, the government accused Russia of a “campaign of malicious cyber activity attempting to interfere in UK politics and democratic processes.” The assessment noted that British lawmakers from multiple political parties had been the targets of spear-phishing campaigns, when attackers try to build up rapport and trust with the aim of stealing sensitive information.
Police have said they would not speculate about who was behind the latest cases or otherwise comment while investigating.
Politico, which first reported on what’s being called the “honey trap sexting scandal,” described how lawmakers, aides and journalists had received unsolicited WhatsApp messages from users who called themselves “Abi” or “Charlie.” The attackers seemed to have extensive knowledge of their targets and their movements at Westminster. In several cases, according to Politico, the attacker told the target that they had previously “had a little flirt.” Some of the parliamentarians were sent naked images. Two reportedly responded by sending images of themselves.