Rishi Sunak has denied displaying a “failure of leadership” after an MP was left to “voluntarily” relinquish the Conservative whip following his admission he shared colleagues’ personal phone numbers with a suspected scammer.
The Prime Minister was challenged on his response to revelations that William Wragg had been targeted in a so-called “honeytrap” scandal after resisting calls to take action over the former Tory’s behaviour.
The MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester last week admitted giving his colleagues’ numbers to someone on a dating app because he feared intimate images of himself would be leaked after he got caught up in a parliamentary sexting scam.
He resigned from his roles leading the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, and chose to surrender the Conservative whip in the wake of the scandal.
Mr Sunak was asked by a caller during a phone-in on LBC on Wednesday whether he had shown a “complete lack and failure of leadership” by allowing Mr Wragg to “sack himself”.
The Prime Minister replied: “No, well… As you know, that particular incident is being looked at by two different police forces at the moment so there’s a limit to what I can say specifically about that.”
He added: “There are wider things happening and he (Mr Wragg) rightly apologised for what happened, and it’s a good reminder to everyone, but particularly people in public life, to obviously be careful about unsolicited messages they get.
“There’s lots of bad actors, as we’re seeing around the world, who are trying to cause damage to our democratic processes.”
Asked why he had waited for Mr Wragg to voluntarily give up the Tory whip rather than removing it, Mr Sunak said: “There’s a police investigation that’s happening. It’s important that we work through these things in due time.
“The important thing here is that we let the police investigations run their course.”
During a visit to Horsham later in the day, the PM was asked whether he regretted backing the MP, to which he responded: “As I said, he’s rightly apologised for what he’s done.”
Pressed on critics branding the response a sign of weakness, Mr Sunak said: “People can judge me if they want to judge me on that, that’s fine, I accept that.”
The Prime Minister sought to turn the focus on to Angela Rayner by hitting out at the controversy that has dogged Labour in recent weeks over the deputy leader’s tax affairs.
“When it comes to weakness, I know Keir Starmer still hasn’t answered any questions properly about what’s going on with Angela Rayner,” he said.
“When it comes to me and my affairs, people are very happy to ask lots of questions, including Angela Rayner herself.”
Ms Rayner has faced repeated questions from the Tories over whether she should have paid capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her home due to confusion over whether it was her principal residence.
She has said she received professional advice which was “categoric that I do not owe any capital gains tax on that”, while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the Conservatives are “chasing a smear” over the story.
