Why hasn't sexting scandal MP Wragg lost Tory whip?

Westminster has been rocked by the sensational exposé of a honeytrap sexting scam targeting MPs, political journalists and parliamentary staffers.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

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.

Who is William Wragg?

The 36-year-old vice-chair 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