A Conservative MP has said he was targeted in the parliamentary honeytrap sexting scam and was the politician that first alerted police and Commons authorities.
Dr Luke Evans, the MP for Bosworth, in Leicestershire, said he was approached in March by two different numbers on WhatsApp “who purported to know me”.
In a video message on Facebook, he said was the victim of cyber flashing and malicious communications “and blew the whistle by reporting it to the police and the parliamentary authorities as soon as this happened”.
Mr Evans said: “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.”
Mr Evans said he “wanted it to be private” due to the ongoing police investigation, but decided to come forward due to the media attention surrounding the sexting scam.
He added: “I’m just pleased I blew the whistle, reported it to the authorities and it’s now being looked into.”
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Leicestershire Police confirmed on Thursday it was investigating a report of malicious communications after a number of unsolicited messages were sent to a Leicestershire MP last month.
Shortly after Mr Evans’s statement, the Metropolitan Police confirmed it was also investigating unsolicited explicit images and messages sent to MPs.
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A statement from the force said: “Officers from the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command are carrying out an investigation following reports that a number of unsolicited messages were sent to MPs over recent months.
“We are working closely with other forces and are in contact with colleagues in Parliamentary Security, who are providing support and advice around anyone affected.”
It follows reports this week that a serving minister, some MPs, party staffers and political journalists were among those who received unsolicited messages from two unknown WhatsApp users.
Last night, Tory MP William Wraggadmitted to The Times that he shared the personal phone numbers of some of his colleagues to a man he met on gay dating app Grindr.
The scam has been described as “spear phishing”, a type of cyber attack that targets specific groups in order to steal personal or sensitive information.
Security experts have speculated that a hostile state could be behind the scam.
Richard Dearlove, a former chief of MI6, told Sky News: “Any MP is massively of interest to a hostile foreign intelligence service.
“Not necessarily for the collection of secrets, but for providing insights into the behavioural vulnerabilities of colleagues.”
Two polls published today spell bad news for Rishi Sunak, with one showing a drop of four points and the other that his party is on course to pick up just 72 seats.
A poll by Savanta for The Daily Telegraph showed the Tories are down four points to just 21% of the vote – the lowest by that pollster since the dying days of Theresa May’s premiership in 2019.
In a boost for Nigel Farage, the poll showed Reform UK up three points with 13% of the vote.
A separate Survation poll for Best for Britain, published by The Times, predicted that the Tories would win just 72 seats in the next parliament, compared with 456 for Labour.
It comes after a YouGov poll on Thursday night put Nigel Farage’s party on 19% of the vote, compared with 18% for the Conservatives.
The development prompted Mr Farage to declare Reform as the “opposition to Labour” going into the election.