WhatsApp Scandal Holds a Mirror Up to Westminster and the Media
There's already been a twist to this honeytrap story, expect more to come
I wonder if he will top himself? I mean, we’ve been here before. TV presenter Caroline Flack took her own life after she was charged with domestic abuse. That was four years ago.
A media storm ensued and the Met police pressed for a prosecution. It was all too much. Flack was just 40 and arguably at the height of her fame.
The narrative, of course, changed after her passing. There was sorrow and there was remorse. It was all a ‘tragedy’. But you have to wonder – how many media-types considered whether she was going to end it all?
William Wragg is even younger than Flack. He’s just 36, an MP and has been admirably open about his past mental health struggles, taking a break from Parliament in 2022 due to depression and anxiety.
But Wragg has been found to be less than admirable with his more recent conduct. What we currently know is that the former Conservative special adviser, who was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015, has been the target of a digital honeytrap.
The timeline still isn’t exactly clear, but others have claimed to have received messages from the same suspicious accounts since January 2023.
The sorry tale has played out over WhatsApp, Westminster’s favourite communications tool alongside the social media website formerly known as Twitter. Targets have been sent provocative pictures and messages in an apparent bid to illicit sexual kompromat from them.
It’s how the malicious actor(s) – going by “Charlie” or “Abi” – procured the phone numbers in the first place, a factor which has made it such a public interest story.
Wragg first interacted with the shadowy account over gay dating app Grindr. He has admitted to passing on the details of other Conservative MPs (Wragg has since quit the parliamentary party) because of the compromising material the attacker(s) had on him:
“I got chatting to a guy on an app and we exchanged pictures. We were meant to meet up for drinks, but then didn’t.
“Then he started asking for numbers of people. I was worried because he had stuff on me. He gave me a WhatsApp number, which doesn’t work now. “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.”
In an unfolding story, it has emerged that journalists have also been targeted as well as parliamentary staffers and at least one Labour MP.
The modus operandi has gone like this: the attacker claims to have met the target at a Westminster function, they flirt over WhatsApp and then send nudes. The cybersecurity industry calls it a “spear-phishing” attack, not to be confused with aquatic hunting.
The moral indignation and social media pile-on has been quick. That’s because Wragg has owned up to his actions and the threat of libel is low. It’s also because the House of Commons is taking another break and the political news agenda has slowed. Wragg’s story is therefore one of the biggest in town.
But instead of good old-fashioned journalistic sleuthing, idle speculation has been pumped into the airwaves and print.
One senior political journalist, speaking on a popular podcast, offered this: “It does seem to be odd freelancing for no obvious purpose as yet that we know of.”
In other words, they don’t really know the full story, aren’t looking into it, but will opine on the matter either way. So much for intellectual honesty.
Boris Johnson’s allies have also put the boot in for good measure. They have publicly attacked Wragg and saw an opportunity to criticise Rishi Sunak, who decided not to remove the Conservative whip from the MP.
The background to this particular bit of Tory in-fighting is that Wragg was one of the first Conservative MPs to call for Johnson’s resignation in 2022.
“One has to ask the question: what is the real reason why No 10 are circling the wagons to protect William Wragg in this way?” Nadine Dorries, the former Secretary of State for Media, has said.
Author of ‘The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson’, Dorries has linked Wragg to the alleged monster plot of the Tory ‘grey men in suits’ who undemocratically brought down one of the Conservatives’ most popular political leaders.
The theory tends to play down the fact that even Tory voters wanted Johnson out of Number 10 following a stream of scandals. The revelation that parties were held in Number 10 while the UK was in lockdown was the most critical blow to Johnson’s premiership.
The Chris Pincher sexual assault scandal, when Johnson’s administration falsely denied that they had any knowledge of past allegations against the then Conservative MP before making him deputy chief whip, finished him off.
But Wragg is now apparently fair game for Johnson’s allies and supporters in the media. In comparison, there has been little commentary about the police and security services, the organisations that are meant to stop this type of thing happening.
And that’s where there is already an early twist in the story. The BBC has revealed that the Met, one of two forces alongside Leicestershire Police investigating the honeytrap plot, was made aware of suspicious messages targeting male Westminster figures last year. House of Commons security staff were also apparently aware of the issue.
MPs weren’t warned. “There was nothing to suggest that those incidents were part of a wider pattern of offending that would have necessitated any sort of warning to Parliamentarians and staff,” The Met has said.
The last publicly available guidance I could find to MPs and Parliament, which has been the target of several cyberattacks over the years, was issued by the National Cyber Security Centre in 2019.
“When using messaging apps, ensure you know who the recipients are. It can be difficult to keep control of private information in a large group chat. As with social media, you should understand who can see your posts. This includes posts you may have made before becoming an MP,” the organisation warned.
An unspoken truth at the heart of this cyber vulnerability problem is that compared to America, Westminster is a semi-professional outfit, League Two at best. MPs have minimal staff, their pay is low and true expertise is hard to come by.
Could you be your own HR, IT and marketing department? Good luck with that. So, is this scandal already bigger than one man? That’s for sure. And hopefully there doesn’t have to be sorrow and remorse this time around.
🤔 Other tech and media news I’ve found interesting
The FT’s AI experiment. The Pink ‘Un’s trial with an AI chatbot, which uses past FT articles, is going well. A small group of around 500 FT Professional subscribers are testing it out. More than 75% of responses have been rated as “useful” by the test group and the FT is learning a lot from their feedback, I’ve been told.
The Guardian’s move. Jim Waterson has one foot back in Westminster. The Guardian has made him Political Media Editor for the election period. No other outlet has such a position. As voters continue to flock to YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and as politicians seek to reach them directly, it makes a lot of sense.
Google’s latest news battle. Alphabet has decided to remove some news links for users in California. The decision is meant to shot what happens if Google is forced to pay for news content in the state.
🎥 Video essays
📖 Essays
How disinformation is forcing a paradigm shift in media theory
Welcome to the age of electronic cottages and information elites
Operation Southside: Inside the UK media’s plan to reconcile with Labour
📧 Contact
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