Tory MP Luke Evans reveals he was targeted in
Westminster sexting scandal
Evans says he was first to alert authorities after
receiving messages in what is suspected to be part of wider attempt to target
MPs
Eleni
Courea and Charlie Moloney
Fri 5 Apr
2024 20.02 BST
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”.
“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.
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