Explosive revelations that a senior Conservative MP was implicated in the Westminster honeypot sexting scandal are “extremely disturbing”, a minister has said.

1922 Commission deputy chairman William Wragg admits he leaked a colleague’s phone number to a man he met on gay dating app Grindr because he sent users intimate photos of himself and feared the recipient would have power over him .

Finance Minister Gareth Davies said the situation was “incredible and very serious” but did not say whether the party would take any formal action against the MP.

talk to sky newsMr Davies said Mr Large “apologized for the actions he took” and urged anyone who believed they were being extorted to “call the police immediately”.

Westminster rocked by new revelations Politico It was revealed that the entire House staff, including members, their staff and a political reporter, later received unsolicited flirtatious text messages from a sender who called himself “Charlie” or “Abi” in an alleged attack. Spear phishing attacks. Spear phishing is a type of targeted online deception.

talking era, The vice-chairman of the 1922 committee said he was concerned the man had “compromised me” so he gave his contact details to an unknown number.

It is understood two councilors responded by sending explicit photos of themselves and the scandal is now the subject of an investigation by Leicestershire Police.

Police said they had received a “malicious communications” complaint against a Leicestershire councilor after a number of unsolicited messages were sent to him last month.

Mr Wragg, 36, who is gay, told us era: “They compromised me. They wouldn’t leave me alone. They would find someone. I gave them some numbers, not all. I told him to stop. He manipulated me and now I’m hurting again other people”.

“I was chatting with a guy on the app and we exchanged photos. We were going to meet for a drink but then didn’t. Then he started asking about the number of people.

“I was worried because he had something on him. He gave me a WhatsApp number but it doesn’t work now.”

The MP for Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester, added: “I hurt people through my weakness. I was frightened. I’m ashamed. I’m sorry that my weakness caused other people to be harmed.”

Politico The scandal was initially reported, revealing that MPs received late-night text messages from an unidentified sender who claimed to have met them in a pub several years ago.

Soon after, they were sent an explicit image and asked for a response. Although it is said that many people have blocked “Charlie”, era Two congressmen did respond with explicit photos of themselves, the report said.

a former congressman tell the bbc On March 11, a man named “Charlie” sent him an explicit image after contacting him via WhatsApp. “The fact that someone is trying to do this and the intention behind them may be to cause harm is really concerning,” he said.

House members expressed concern about the news. Labor’s former shadow minister Jess Phillips questioned why MPs would send “nude photos”, while her colleague Rosie Duffield asked why someone would “leak a colleague’s phone details without their permission”.

The new charges have reignited fears of espionage and foreign state attacks on Britain’s democratic institutions.

Britain imposed sanctions on China in March after it accused Chinese-backed hackers of two “malicious” cyberattacks, one targeting Britain’s election watchdog and another targeting Conservative politicians.

In September 2023, a parliamentary researcher was arrested under the Official Secrets Act on suspicion of spying for China.this sunday times According to the report, the researcher had contact with well-known figures such as Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Alicia Kearns.

Conservative MP and staunch China hawk Bob Seely said news night He suspected the sting was foreign and said “the Russians behaved rudely” but “the Chinese tend to be more sophisticated”.He added: “I hope [Wragg] Haven’t handed over my number yet. This sounds like a gay beauty trap. “

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith also told daily mail The attack was likely to be carried out by Russia, and it urged authorities to tighten security: “We are making slow progress in protecting people… The government and security services must continue their efforts.

“This is an attack on parliamentary democracy but everyone is afraid to call out foreign agents”.

Mr Davies declined to say whether the party was launching a formal investigation into Mr Large’s latest revelations, telling Sky News:

“Well, the police have launched an investigation. That’s exactly what happened. In addition, the Speaker also announced that Parliament Security will also investigate this, which is correct. What I will say is that members of Parliament have very robust procedures and resources in place to protect us from by a variety of different threats, including cybersecurity threats, and this is here to stay.”

The newspaper contacted Mr Large after MPs and other parliamentary figures told each other about their concerns and suspicions about his involvement. independent Mr Large has been contacted for comment.