Why hasn’t MP William Wragg lost the Tory whip over the ‘honeytrap’ sexting scandal?

Westminster has been rocked by the sensational exposé of a honeytrap sexting scam targeting MPs, political journalists and parliamentary staffers. Senior Tory William Wragg revealed he lay at the heart of the scandal, admitting that he shared his colleagues’ phone numbers for fear of intimate images of him being leaked.

Despite the revelation he had put his colleagues at risk, with two MPs going on to share explicit images of themselves to the scammer, Mr Wragg has kept the Tory whip and remains the MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester.

As police forces and parliamentary authorities investigate the scam, first revealed by Politico, The Independent looks at why Mr Wragg remains a Conservative MP.

The 36-year-old vice-chairman of the 1922 committee has previously talked about living with depression and anxiety for most of his adult life. In August 2022, Mr Wragg took a break from parliament, saying both had become “severe” and that he was “resisting the temptation to give up entirely”.

In the wake of his admission this week, Conservative MPs were reluctant to criticise Mr Wragg, with several telling The Independent they were concerned about his mental health. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said Mr Wragg’s confession, to The Times newspaper, was “courageous” and praised his “fulsome” apology.

Mr Wragg said he had “hurt people by being weak”, adding: “I’m so sorry that my weakness has caused other people hurt.”

However, other MPs were less sympathetic. Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries questioned why Mr Wragg had not been disciplined when others had been for far less.

Nigel Farage said Mr Wragg’s actions were “disgraceful” and Tory former minister Zac Goldsmith said he was “perplexed” at Downing Street’s handling of the scandal.

Diane Abbott said she would like to know why a picture of her sipping a canned mojito on a train caused more outrage than Mr Wragg leaking his colleagues’ phone numbers to a scammer.

Questions also remain about whether Mr Wragg will be investigated by parliament’s sleaze watchdog Daniel Greenberg. Anybody can raise a complaint with parliament’s commissioner for standards, but it is not known whether one has been filed. If an investigation is launched, Mr Wragg could risk suspension from the House of Commons and face a tough by-election to retain his seat.

The code of conduct for MPs is clear that members cannot undertake “any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons”.

MPs are also forbidden from using information they have received in confidence outside the course of their parliamentary work and must avoid any conflict between their personal interest and the public interest.

One Tory MP told The Independent it was a “practical” decision not to suspend the whip from Mr Wragg.

“The last thing you want is a by-election when there’s going to be a general election in six months anyway and he’s already said he’s standing down ... I think if he wasn’t going to go at the general election it might be a different issue,” they added.

Mr Wragg has a slim majority of 4,423 in Hazel Grove and would be likely to lose the seat if a by-election was called. But despite the prospect of another by-election scalp, Labour and Sir Keir Starmer have also stopped short of calling for him to lose the whip or step down, even though they criticised the Conservatives for not removing the whip more quickly from Lee Anderson over his Islamophobic comments and called for Liz Truss to lose the whip after appearing at an event with Steve Bannon.

Senior Labour figures said they were surprised the Conservatives had not yet acted against Mr Wragg, but that Labour won’t publicly call for him to be suspended.

London mayor Sadiq Khan is the most senior opposition figure to call for Mr Wragg to step down. He told Politico: “I think it’s now at a stage where, as a legislator, he should resign. I think there’s also a question about Rishi Sunak’s judgement.”