A senior member of Britain's governing Conservative Party has admitted supplying the personal details of fellow MPs to someone he met online, saying he had felt compromised after he sent them intimate photos of himself.
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William Wragg told the Times newspaper he had handed over the phone numbers of colleagues to a man he met on a dating app, part of what is reported to be a wider sexting scam targeting people working in the British parliament.
The Times said those colleagues were then sent unsolicited flirtatious messages and two MPs had responded by sending explicit photographs of themselves.
"They had compromising things on me," Wragg, 36, told the newspaper.
"They wouldn't leave me alone. They would ask for people. I gave them some numbers, not all of them. I told him to stop. He's manipulated me and now I've hurt other people."
News outlet Politico said 12 men including a serving government minister were known to have been targeted in the suspected operation, receiving flirtatious messages and pictures from people who called themselves Abi or Charlie.
Neither the Times nor Politico said who was believed to be responsible for the messaging campaign.
Police said they were investigating a report of malicious communications.
A parliament spokesperson said the messages had heightened concerns that MPs could be vulnerable to cyberattacks and bribery.
"Parliament takes security extremely seriously and works closely with government in response to such incidents," the spokesperson said.
"We are encouraging anyone affected who has concerns to contact the Parliamentary Security Department."
Wragg has been an MP for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party since 2015 and is the chairman of a cross-party parliamentary committee that oversees constitutional issues and standards.
Wragg's office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Australian Associated Press
