MP William Wragg is at the centre of controversy after he admitted sharing colleagues’ personal phone numbers with someone he met on a dating app.
He was first elected to parliament as the Conservative member for Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester, in 2015 when he was just 27.
Now 36, he has already announced his intention to stand down as an MP after the next general election, saying his “misspent youth was in politics and I think I would like a break from it”.
On Tuesday evening, Mr Wragg became the 18th independent MP in the Commons after he “voluntarily” gave up the Tory Party whip following his role in the scandal.
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Before entering Westminster, Mr Wragg served as a local councillor on Stockport Council between 2011 and 2015 and worked as a primary school teacher.
He took his seat from the Liberal Democrats and, in doing so, became the first Conservative MP to represent the constituency since 1997.
Since being elected, he rose up the ranks to take up the role of chair of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC), which examines constitutional issues and civil service matters.
He was also vice chair of the 1922 committee – the troublesome group of backbench MPs who meet weekly to discuss their views and, more recently, have overseen leadership elections and confidence votes. He has now quit both roles.
However, Mr Wragg is perhaps best known for being something of a thorn in the side of the four leaders he has served under.
He campaigned for Brexit during the EU Referendum, and after David Cameron resigned, backed Andrea Leadsom to be Tory leader against Theresa May – who ultimately went on to win.
During Mrs May’s tenure in Downing Street, he was one of more than 100 rebels who voted against her Withdrawal Agreement with the EU.
He was one of the first Tory MPs to call for Boris Johnson to go amid the partygate scandal, alleging in January 2022 that government figures under the former Tory leader had tried to blackmail MPs who were speaking out against him.
Mr Wragg also called on Liz Truss to resign after her calamitous mini-budget, saying: “I can’t go and speak to my constituents, looked them in the eye and say they should vote for our great party.”
Mr Wragg is also well known for being open about his mental health. In the summer of 2022, he took a “short break” from his duties to recover from depression, writing on social media he had lived with depression and anxiety most of his adult life, and both were at the time “severe”.
He said he hoped to return “refreshed” and “loving life and myself a little bit more”.
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Many MPs have been sympathetic to Mr Wragg’s admitted involvement in an alleged “sexting scam”, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt praising him for offering a “courageous and fulsome” apology.
Mr Wragg told The Times he was “manipulated” into giving personal phone numbers of colleagues to a man he met on a dating app for fear of intimate images of himself being leaked.
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He said he was sorry for his “weakness”, which has caused hurt for other people.
A subsequent report in The Times said Mr Wragg would not have the party whip removed, but a Tory spokesperson confirmed that Mr Wragg had decided to quit the parliamentary party himself.
A spokesperson for the Tory whips said: “Following Will Wragg’s decision to step back from his roles on the Public Accounts and 1922 committees, he has also notified the chief whip that he is voluntarily relinquishing the Conservative whip.”
The admission came after multiple reports of MPs receiving unsolicited messages from two unknown WhatsApp users.
On Friday, the Metropolitan Police confirmed it was in contact with Leicestershire Police and Parliamentary Security “following reporting of unsolicited messages to members of parliament”, amid concerns other MPs and their staff could be victims of blackmail.
