Man arrested by detectives investigating Westminster honeytrap plot

The man was held in north London on Wednesday on suspicion of harassment and offences under the Online Safety Act.

Several men with connections to Westminster were targeted as part of a sexting scam (Nick Ansell/PA) (PA Archive)

Detectives investigating a honeytrap plot that targeted several men in political circles have made an arrest.

A man was held in Islington, north London, on Wednesday on suspicion of harassment and offences under the Online Safety Act, the Metropolitan Police said.

He is aged in his mid-twenties.

An investigation began in April after it was suggested that at least 12 men with links to Westminster had received unsolicited messages in a sexting scam.

Then-senior Conservative MP William Wragg resigned the party whip after he admitted giving politicians’ phone numbers to a suspected scammer.

Fellow Tory Dr Luke Evans called for a full review of Parliament’s system of investigating incidents reported by MPs after he was also targeted.

Mr Wragg admitted he gave colleagues’ phone numbers to someone on a dating app amid fears that intimate images of himself would be leaked.

The Hazel Grove MP said he was sorry for his “weakness” in responding, and resigned from his role leading the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee, and chose to surrender the Conservative whip.

The unknown scammer is said to have used the aliases “Charlie” and “Abi” while sending flirtatious messages to attempt to coax MPs and other figures in political circles into sending explicit pictures.