A Conservative MP has revealed that he was targeted in the Westminster sexting scandal and was the MP that first alerted the authorities.
Luke Evans said he was messaged in what is suspected to be part of a wider attempt to target MPs.
In a video posted on Facebook, Evans said he had been sent a photo of a naked woman on WhatsApp, which was followed by a message 10 days later.
The MP for Bosworth said: “A month ago I was a victim of cyberflashing and malicious communications and blew the whistle by reporting it to the police and the parliamentary authorities as soon as this happened.
“The first set of messages I got was on a day I was with my wife and I got a one-time open photo on WhatsApp of an explicit image of a naked lady. As soon as I got these, the next day I reported it to the police, the authorities and the chief whip.
“Ten days later I got another set of messages. This time, however, I was sat with my team in the constituency office, so we were able to record the conversation and catch photos and videos of the messages coming through including another explicit female image.”
He added: “I’m just pleased I blew the whistle, reported it to the authorities and it’s now being looked into.”
Earlier on Friday it emerged that William Wragg, the Conservative MP who admitted to giving out the personal phone numbers of colleagues to a person he met on the Grindr dating app, would keep the whip while the party investigated his role in the scandal.
A Conservative source said Wragg would not be suspended from the party for now amid concerns that he is also a victim.
On Thursday, the Hazel Grove MP said he had reported the “malicious communications” to the police and parliamentary authorities as soon as they happened. Wragg said he gave out the MPs’ details because he feared that the person had compromising material about him.
Wragg has faced calls to resign after he told the Times that he gave the information after he had sent intimate pictures of himself, saying he was “scared” and “mortified”.
Leicestershire police have launched an investigation into reports that explicit images and flirtatious messages were sent to MPs as part of an alleged “spear-phishing” attack.
On Friday, the Metropolitan police said they were investigating unsolicited explicit images and messages sent to MPs in a parliamentary honeytrap sexting scam.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, appeared to give his support to Wragg on Friday morning, describing his apology as “courageous and fulsome”. The Conservative party declined to comment because of the active police investigation, although the government chief whip was speaking to those affected.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said the revelations were “incredibly concerning” but whether Wragg should resign was a “question for the Conservatives”.
Earlier this week, Politico reported that 12 people working in Westminster, including a minister, had been contacted by a WhatsApp user purporting to be someone who had met them at a recent political or social event, in an effort to acquire personal or sensitive information.
The Guardian spoke to a 13th person who was targeted in the exact same way by a WhatsApp user calling themselves “Abigail” or “Abi”.
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“I don’t have any sympathy for [Wragg],” the person, a former government special adviser, said on Friday. “He was faced with a choice – go to the authorities, which is much easier for him than most people – or hand over [phone numbers] and subject a whole load of people to that threat, not knowing where that would lead.
“We’re now supposed to feel sorry for him?”
The former special adviser received the first message on 23 January 2023, suggesting the phishing operation has been under way for at least 14 months. He received a message from an unknown number in the evening that said: “Long time no speak [eyes emoji], how’re you?”
The WhatsApp user, who used a young woman’s photo as their profile picture, claimed to have met the former special adviser at the Midland hotel bar near the Conservative party conference in Manchester. When he said he had no memory of the meeting, the sender offered to “jog your memory” and sent an explicit picture.
Hunt told broadcasters: “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.”
Some Tory MPs have called for Wragg to resign as an MP after his confession of handing over colleagues’ phone numbers.
Wragg told the Times: “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.
“I’ve hurt people by being weak. I was scared. I’m mortified. I’m so sorry that my weakness has caused other people hurt.”
Wragg has previously spoken about his mental health struggles. In 2022 he took a short break from his duties as an MP during a bout of severe depression and anxiety.
A Leicestershire police spokesperson said the force was “investigating a report of malicious communications after a number of unsolicited messages were sent to a Leicestershire MP last month. They were reported to police on Tuesday 19 March. Inquiries are ongoing.”
Anyone working in parliament who has been affected has been urged to contact the parliamentary security department.
Source: theguardian.com
