The ‘senior Tory’ has issued a self-flagellating apology, but he still has the whip – and Sunak’s low bar sinks lower

Where to start with Westminster’s latest scandal, which – without wishing to speculate on spoilers – I suggest you formally label as “developing”? Blowing his own cover in it is William Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester, and chair of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee. Aged 36, William is described as a “senior Tory” on the basis of something or other – possibly his predilection for calling for other politicians to resign on moral grounds. Mind you, these days being an MP since 2015 means you’ve seen five prime ministers. If anything, you’re a Tory grandee.

Anyway, here follow the bare bones of what Wragg seems to have got himself mixed up in. Having connected with someone on Grindr, he began an exchange that led, in his own words, to his correspondent getting “compromising things on me”. Instead of going immediately to the police, as far as we know Wragg instead opted to start obliging his tormentor with the numbers of other MPs, Westminster staff and political journalists. These new targets were duly sent photos fairly early on in their own exchanges with their mystery correspondent, and – incredibly and yet entirely credibly – at least two MPs then responded by sending explicit pictures themselves.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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