Hunt: apology from Wragg over ‘spear-phishing’ cyber-attack was ‘courageous and fulsome’
PA Media reports that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, appears to have given his support to William Wragg, who has reportedly admitted to giving out the personal phone numbers of colleagues to a person he met on a dating app.
Wragg told the Times that he gave the information after he had sent intimate pictures of himself, saying he was âscaredâ and âmortifiedâ. Leicestershire police have launched an investigation in response to reports that explicit images and flirtatious messages were sent to MPs as part of an alleged âspear-phishingâ attack.
Speaking to broadcasters, Hunt said Wraggâs apology was âcourageous and fulsomeâ. He told the media:
The events of the last few days have been a great cause for concern. The MP involved has given a courageous and fulsome apology.
But the lesson here for all MPs is that they need to be very careful about cybersecurity, and indeed it is the lesson for members of the public as well, because this is something that we are all having to face in our daily lives.
Asked earlier today about the situation during the morning media round, Treasury minister Gareth Davies said: âIt is extremely troubling,â while appearing to indicate that Wragg would continue to sit as a Conservative MP.
He told Times Radio Wragg âis continuing as a Conservative MP, and itâs right that thereâs investigation into what happened. Heâs rightly apologised, and, as I say, thatâs a matter for Will Wragg and the party generally.â
Davies also said that âwe are alive to any threat that can occur against MPsâ and that âanybody watching that feels theyâre in a similar position, if they ever feel like theyâre being compromised or blackmailed, they should report that to the police.â
Labourâs deputy national campaign coordinator, Ellie Reeves, said âit is very concerning in terms of MPsâ safetyâ while urging anybody with any information to go to the police.
Key events
PA Media reports that Scotland Yard has confirmed it is in contact with Leicestershire police and parliamentary security âfollowing reporting of unsolicited messages to members of parliamentâ, amid concerns MPs and their staff could be victims of blackmail, after Conservative MP William Wragg apologised for giving personal details about MPs to someone he met through a dating app.
âWe will assess any reports made to us accordingly,â the Met added.
Wragg said he was blackmailed into sharing his colleaguesâ phone numbers after sharing intimate images of himself.
The sexting scam has been described as âspear-phishingâ, a type of cyber-attack that targets specific groups, and involves scammers pretending to be trusted senders in order to steal personal or sensitive information.
Hunt: apology from Wragg over ‘spear-phishing’ cyber-attack was ‘courageous and fulsome’
PA Media reports that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, appears to have given his support to William Wragg, who has reportedly admitted to giving out the personal phone numbers of colleagues to a person he met on a dating app.
Wragg told the Times that he gave the information after he had sent intimate pictures of himself, saying he was âscaredâ and âmortifiedâ. Leicestershire police have launched an investigation in response to reports that explicit images and flirtatious messages were sent to MPs as part of an alleged âspear-phishingâ attack.
Speaking to broadcasters, Hunt said Wraggâs apology was âcourageous and fulsomeâ. He told the media:
The events of the last few days have been a great cause for concern. The MP involved has given a courageous and fulsome apology.
But the lesson here for all MPs is that they need to be very careful about cybersecurity, and indeed it is the lesson for members of the public as well, because this is something that we are all having to face in our daily lives.
Asked earlier today about the situation during the morning media round, Treasury minister Gareth Davies said: âIt is extremely troubling,â while appearing to indicate that Wragg would continue to sit as a Conservative MP.
He told Times Radio Wragg âis continuing as a Conservative MP, and itâs right that thereâs investigation into what happened. Heâs rightly apologised, and, as I say, thatâs a matter for Will Wragg and the party generally.â
Davies also said that âwe are alive to any threat that can occur against MPsâ and that âanybody watching that feels theyâre in a similar position, if they ever feel like theyâre being compromised or blackmailed, they should report that to the police.â
Labourâs deputy national campaign coordinator, Ellie Reeves, said âit is very concerning in terms of MPsâ safetyâ while urging anybody with any information to go to the police.
Health and social care secretary Victoria Atkins has also commented on the end of the NHS consultants pay dispute in England. She said:
I hugely value the work of NHS consultants and I am pleased that, after weeks of negotiations, they have accepted this fair and reasonable offer, putting an end to the threat of further strike action.
Consultants will now be able to focus on providing the highest quality care for patients and we can consolidate our progress on waiting lists â which have fallen for the past four months.
This deal directly addresses gender pay issues in the NHS and enhances consultantsâ parental leave options â representing a fair deal for consultants, patients, and taxpayers.
Government figures keep quoting that waiting lists have fallen for four months, which they will argue is clearly heading in the right direction, but nevertheless the figure in January stood at 7.6 million, according to official NHS statistics.
That number could actually be higher, as earlier this week my colleague Tobi Thomas, our health and inequalities correspondent, reported that an ONS survey of about 90,000 adults found that 21% of patients were waiting for a hospital appointment or to start receiving treatment on the NHS. When extrapolated, this equates to 9.7 million people.
Health is a devolved matter so the statistics and the dispute only apply to England.
Dr Vishal Sharma, who chairs the BMA consultants committee, has had this to say about the end of the pay dispute with the NHS in England. He said:
After years of repeated real-terms pay cuts, caused by government interference and a failure of the pay review process, consultants have spoken and now clearly feel that this offer is enough of a first step to address our concerns to end the current dispute.
Weâve reached this point not just through our tough negotiations with the government, but thanks to the resolve of consultants, who took the difficult decision to strike, and did so safely and effectively, on multiple occasions, sending a clear message that they would not back down.
But the fight is not yet over. This is only the end of the beginning, and we have some way to go before the pay consultants have lost over the last 15 years has been restored.
He said that crucially the BMA would be looking to the review body on doctorsâ and dentistsâ remuneration (DDRB) to âutilises its independence to restore doctorsâ pay and prevent any further disputes from arising.â
You can read the full story here: NHS consultants accept pay offer, ending year-long dispute with government
Sunak: end of NHS consultant pay dispute is ‘excellent news for patients’
The prime minister has reacted to news that NHS consultants in England have voted to accept a new pay deal from the government, after a dispute which lasted a year and during which consultants took strike action.
Rishi Sunak posted to social media to say:
Iâm pleased NHS consultants have accepted this deal. This is excellent news for patients. We can now continue making progress towards our goal of cutting waiting lists, which have fallen for the fourth month in a row.
Sunak made cutting waiting list times in England one of his five key pledges at the beginning of 2023, and it was one that he failed to meet. The government have repeatedly tried to blame strike days for the waiting list in England rising.
Health is a devolved issue and this pay dispute has only related to England.
Steve Brine, Conservative MP for Winchester & Chandlerâs Ford, who sits on the health and social care committee in the Commons, has described the announcement that the pay dispute between the government and NHS consultants is over as âreally positive news this morning.â
He posted to social media saying âso much to do and huge sigh of relief the NHS can put this behind it.â
We will have a full story on this shortly.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has said its members in England have voted in favour by 83% to accept a pay offer, ending a year-long dispute with the government.
More details soon â¦
Here is a picture of shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth campaigning today in Blackpool with Labourâs new âTory tax double whammyâ advert.
Labour have also put out another Sunak-themed tax attack ad.
If you think it all looks familiar, then you are probably as old as I am, as it is a riff on a 1992 Conservative campaign poster when John Majorâs election campaign against Neil Kinnock threatened that a Labour win would mean â1. more taxes 2. higher prices.â
Gove says he showed ‘moral cowardice’ in not telling Cameron how prominent he would be in Brexit campaign
Overnight Amy Gibbons at the Telegraph picked through the bones of Michael Goveâs recent appearance on the Ed Balls and George Osborne podcast, pulling out the line that Gove said he showed âmoral cowardiceâ by leading David Cameron to believe he would take a back seat role during the Brexit referendum.
Asked about Cameron feeling betrayed, it quotes Gove saying:
I do think that I could have been clearer earlier. I think that was an example of, on the one hand, cowardice on my part, moral cowardice, on the other hand, a recognition that perhaps thereâs this feeling in politics, perhaps something will turn up, perhaps this moment wonât come when we have to make that decision. But I think David, entirely fairly, should have expected me to have been more upfront earlier.
Gove also said he had not expected to take such a prominent role in the Leave campaign himself.
I didnât want to take part in the debates, the television shows that I ultimately took part in, or play as prominent a role. One of the arguments was âif you donât do this, theyâll have Farage onâ.
Regular readers of the live blog on the days I am on it will be aware I usually try to find some way to shoehorn in a bit of sport, and today Rishi Sunak has handed me the opportunity. It is the opening day of the county cricket season â which you can follow live with Tanya Aldred here â and the prime minister has been boasting about investment in grassroots cricket with a little animation of a Downing Street branded bat smashing one for six.
I love cricket, thatâs no secret.
So Iâm pleased that today we can support even more young people to get into the game.
Weâre investing £35 million in grassroots cricket to help over 900,000 young people into playing cricket. pic.twitter.com/mN1rauyOYI
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 5, 2024
