The Lemon Fool

Reading about the latest scandal to hit Westminster, you do wonder how thick some MPs are?
Personal private photographs sprout wings so the common sense default position is never, ever send them to anyone, especially a complete stranger who contacts you out of the blue from a dating ap.
Then to release the private numbers of other MPs on request thereby entrapping/compromising more MPs?
These people are supposed to be the nation's elected elite, our leaders.

Words fail me.

He's owned up.

Doesn't that make him a better person than most of his colleagues?

Well, unless he's hiding something worse. But how likely is it he's still a backbencher if he were proficient with the dead cat?

Beerpig wrote:These people are supposed to be the nation's elected elite, our leaders.

Words fail me.

Ah bless.

These people are representative of their electorate. Have you met people?

Speaking to reporters, Mr Hunt said the reports were a "great cause for concern" but Mr Wragg had "given a courageous and fulsome apology".

Mr Wragg, who is vice chair of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, told the Times said he had sent intimate pictures of himself to a man he met on gay dating app Grindr.

"They had compromising things on me. They wouldn't leave me alone,"

Words fail me.

T7

BTW - interesting use of 'they' - answers on a postcard to the usual posters

terminal7 wrote:Speaking to reporters, Mr Hunt said the reports were a "great cause for concern" but Mr Wragg had "given a courageous and fulsome apology".

Mr Wragg, who is vice chair of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, told the Times said he had sent intimate pictures of himself to a man he met on gay dating app Grindr.

"They had compromising things on me. They wouldn't leave me alone,"

Words fail me.

T7

BTW - interesting use of 'they' - answers on a postcard to the usual posters

I would love to know how on earth he was identified as an MP. If he was stupid enough to use his real name, then he's not exactly very bright, is he? The other person may be sent to prison for blackmail, but the MP's lost all dignity and self-respect for ever.

So how was he identified? Will e-passport gates soon have a lower camera for 'goolie-recognition' as well as face-recognition?

Steve

PS I accept that a person's private life is 'private', but like teachers, doctors and nurses, those working for and paid for by the public have a duty to set an example.

stevensfo wrote:

terminal7 wrote:Speaking to reporters, Mr Hunt said the reports were a "great cause for concern" but Mr Wragg had "given a courageous and fulsome apology".

Mr Wragg, who is vice chair of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, told the Times said he had sent intimate pictures of himself to a man he met on gay dating app Grindr.

"They had compromising things on me. They wouldn't leave me alone,"

Words fail me.

T7

BTW - interesting use of 'they' - answers on a postcard to the usual posters

I would love to know how on earth he was identified as an MP. If he was stupid enough to use his real name, then he's not exactly very bright, is he? The other person may be sent to prison for blackmail, but the MP's lost all dignity and self-respect for ever.

So how was he identified? Will e-passport gates soon have a lower camera for 'goolie-recognition' as well as face-recognition?

Steve

PS I accept that a person's private life is 'private', but like teachers, doctors and nurses, those working for and paid for by the public have a duty to set an example.

Isn't it more the giving in to the blackmailer that was the problem?
Surely if classical impropriety were an issue it would be yet another nail in the Tory coffin

I have never been inclined to send or receive naked pictures though seems it's a thing these days. There was this video though...
And he's not the only one I read but don't worry this idiot will not trouble the electorate much longer

Senior Tory Mr Wragg has also confirmed he will not run again... Mr Wragg had been one of the Conservative MPs most critical of former PM Mr Johnson and also publicly demanded Liz Truss quit as leader following her disastrous mini-budget

https://news.sky.com/story/the-mps-who-have-announced-they-are-standing-down-at-the-next-general-election-13102764

Seriously, who thinks it's a good idea to send unknown contacts on the internet a picture of anything? Oh a dating app, I get it now he was horny and thought there's a chance of a shag in it. Yeah, I'd have done that. I once went bowling coz someone I fancied said they liked bowling.

kempiejon wrote:I have never been inclined to send or receive naked pictures though seems it's a thing these days. There was this video though...
And he's not the only one I read but don't worry this idiot will not trouble the electorate much longer

Senior Tory Mr Wragg has also confirmed he will not run again... Mr Wragg had been one of the Conservative MPs most critical of former PM Mr Johnson and also publicly demanded Liz Truss quit as leader following her disastrous mini-budget

https://news.sky.com/story/the-mps-who-have-announced-they-are-standing-down-at-the-next-general-election-13102764

Seriously, who thinks it's a good idea to send unknown contacts on the internet a picture of anything? Oh a dating app, I get it now he was horny and thought there's a chance of a shag in it. Yeah, I'd have done that. I once went bowling coz someone I fancied said they liked bowling.

I have never been inclined to send or receive naked pictures though seems it's a thing these days.

Really? I must be behind the times. I'll suggest it to our vicar on Sunday.

Meanwhile, good luck with your promotion to Headteacher of your Primary school. Looking forward to the next class photos, or at least the story in the Daily Express!


Steve

Beerpig wrote:Personal private photographs sprout wings so the common sense default position is never, ever send them to anyone, especially a complete stranger who contacts you out of the blue from a dating ap.
Then to release the private numbers of other MPs on request thereby entrapping/compromising more MPs?
These people are supposed to be the nation's elected elite, our leaders.

Exactly. If I were a Chinese or Russian spy, looking for a quick way to capture some dirt on a dozen or so government MPs who I could then blackmail or manipulate, that would be pretty much exactly how I'd go about it. Being gay isn't a resignation matter any more, thank goodness, but in some policy areas (foreign relations, for example) it can still raise eyebrows and cause unexpected difficulties. Homosexuality is still a bit of a deal-breaker in parts of the Middle East, for example.

The twerp doesn't appear to have considered that possibility. Just spilled all their names and contact details, thus putting all of them into the same security jeopardy as himself. He's gained nothing at all by blabbing, and they've potentially lost a lot. Sorry doesn't seem quite the right word.

BJ

The college I worked at had personal development tutorials for the students the subjects cvered things like stress, safeguarding, finances, sex and including a session reminding them that sending naked pics was potentially distributing child pornography. So yes it sure is a thing.

stevensfo wrote:Really? I must be behind the times. I'll suggest it to our vicar on Sunday.

Perhaps he'll share with you.

Do naked snaps even matter? In a world where AI can construct a naked picture from a regular clothed snapshot? Or airbrush out a (then-) Prime Minister, or add a gunman to a scene, or ...

He's obviously been an idiot, but we may need to recalibrate some expectations that are relevant to this story.

Oh the snooker's on.

servodude wrote:Isn't it more the giving in to the blackmailer that was the problem?
Surely if classical impropriety were an issue it would be yet another nail in the Tory coffin

I'd guess there's an argument that he's breaching GDPR - there's a grey line around what exactly counts as "personal", as he presumably would only have had their phone numbers as a result of him being an MP.

He'd already announced some time ago that he was standing down (he knew what was coming?) but good riddance, he's the sort of professional politician that we don't need - his only experience in the real world was a teacher training course before he went on the political track.

terminal7 wrote:Mr Wragg, who is vice chair...

Hallucigenia wrote:

servodude wrote:Isn't it more the giving in to the blackmailer that was the problem?
Surely if classical impropriety were an issue it would be yet another nail in the Tory coffin

I'd guess there's an argument that he's breaching GDPR - there's a grey line around what exactly counts as "personal", as he presumably would only have had their phone numbers as a result of him being an MP.

Wouldn't the grey area be over whether he collected data and therefore came under GDPR?

GDPR doesn't prohibit me passing one friend's contact details to another friend. But it would do if I were using not my personal details but instead, for example, a list of musicians that had been passed to me because I was part of organising an event.

88V8 wrote:

terminal7 wrote:Mr Wragg, who is vice chair...

Yeah, right. Vice president, vice chair, etc were always the posts that appealed to a student sense of proprietyhumour.

stevensfo wrote:, but the MP's lost all dignity and self-respect for ever.

MPs actually HAVE any dignity and self-respect? Who knew?!

kempiejon wrote:I have never been inclined to send or receive naked pictures though seems it's a thing these days.

Not the first MP to do it. There were selfies of Chris Bryant published on a public site a year or two back. Since when he has been known as Mr Y fronts.

Nimrod103 wrote:

kempiejon wrote:I have never been inclined to send or receive naked pictures though seems it's a thing these days.

Not the first MP to do it. There were selfies of Chris Bryant published on a public site a year or two back. Since when he has been known as Mr Y fronts.

I think this probably came back to prominence around the debates about the Online Safety Bill or possible another piece of internet related legislation but the actual incident that resulted in that nickname happened in 2003 and made the news then.

UncleEbenezer wrote:GDPR doesn't prohibit me passing one friend's contact details to another friend. But it would do if I were using not my personal details but instead, for example, a list of musicians that had been passed to me because I was part of organising an event.

Think of it as "a list of MPs that had been passed to me because I was an MP" [like the Commons phone book]

As I say it's marginal, but it's a legal angle given that it would be hard to pin down the espionage or potential blackmail angles ("Here's a list of my other gay MP mates").

Although as I say I have no time for professional politician types, I do have a quantum of sympathy for him in that from a personal POV the best option would be to stand down immediately, and get some sympathy and credibility for life after politics by doing the honourable thing after a stupid mistake. But the Tories can't let the boil be lanced like that as they just can't afford another by-election, particularly one in which the LibDems would slaughter them in northern suburbs - they only need a 5% swing in Hazel Grove.