Labour Party member suspended after Honeytrap arrest

Updated 57 minutes ago

Labour has suspended a party member after being informed of his arrest in connection with the Westminster ‘honeytrap’ scandal, the BBC has learned.

On Wednesday, police in London arrested a man in his mid-20s on suspicion of harassment and breaches of the Online Safety Act.

Several alleged victims were informed by the Metropolitan Police shortly afterwards.

Earlier this year, several men, most of them in politics, admitted to receiving unsolicited, flirtatious WhatsApp messages from people calling themselves “Charlie” or “Abi.” In some cases, explicit images were exchanged.

In April, then-MP William Wragg resigned from his post as Conservative leader after saying he had given the phone numbers of his fellow MPs to a man he met on a dating app out of “fear”.

Other victims included then-Conservative MP Luke Evans, who said he contacted police after becoming a “victim of cyber-flashing and malicious messages.”

In April, British police announced that they were investigating reports of unsolicited messages being sent to MPs and others.

As part of the police investigation, statements were taken from all those believed to have received unwanted messages, including both Labour and Conservative MPs.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “On Wednesday 26 June, police executed an arrest warrant at an address in Islington.

“A man was arrested on suspicion of harassment and breaches of the Online Safety Act. He was taken into custody where he remains.

“The arrest is in connection with an investigation being conducted by the Met’s Parliamentary Liaison and Investigations Team following reports of unwanted messages being sent to MPs and others.

“The investigations are still ongoing.”

The police were first made aware of the news in late 2023, but it was not until April that the first news about it became public.

Following initial reports of the messages, Mr Wragg told The Times he had chatted on an app with someone who had subsequently asked him for other people’s numbers.

“They had compromising information about me. They wouldn’t leave me alone… I gave them some numbers, not all of them.”

He apologized for “my weakness,” which he said “hurt other people.”

Other politicians and political journalists then reported on their own experiences with receiving unwanted messages

The following week, Luke Evans, then Conservative MP for Bosworth, said he had been a “victim of cyber-flashing.”

Up to 20 people from political circles are said to have received unwanted messages.