Labour Party member suspended after arrest as decoy in Westminster

A Labour Party member has been suspended after being arrested in connection with the Westminster honeytrap scandal.

On Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Police said a man in his twenties had been arrested in Islington, north London.

In April, reports emerged that around 20 Westminster celebrities had been victims of flirtatious messages and explicit photos sent by sender using the aliases “Charlie” or “Abi.”

William Wragg, the former Tory MP, admitted that he gave the phone numbers of colleagues to a man he met on Grindr because he was “afraid” the man “had compromising things about me”.

Labour declined to comment.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “On Wednesday 26 June, police executed a 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 investigation is ongoing.”

“Miss you in Westminster”

The scandal rocked Westminster in early April. Mr Wragg resigned from the Conservative Party after admitting to passing on the phone numbers.

At least twelve men who worked in Parliament and its entourage, including a serving minister, were targeted in the Honeytrap scandal.

In April, Politico reported that victims had received flirtatious messages and, in several cases, explicit photographs with the intention of luring them.

It was said that a serving minister received a message on March 11 from “Charlie”, who claimed to have previously worked in Parliament, and they had “flirtatious” conversations. The minister then had the number blocked.

That same evening, another former MP was contacted by someone using the same alias, who sent him the message: “Long time no talk! Miss you in Westminster” and later: “I’m single again and enjoying time with the gays in Westminster.”

“Charlie” then provided the last name and first name of a lawmaker she claimed to work for and sent an explicit photo the next day before she was blocked. The Times reported that two lawmakers responded to “Charlie’s” requests for such explicit images with photos of themselves.

Among those affected was Dr Luke Evans, the Conservative MP for Bosworth, who said in a Facebook video that he had reported the unwanted messages to the police.