RISHI SUNAK was accused of a “complete lack of leadership” today after allowing an MP caught sharing colleagues’ personal phone numbers with a suspected scammer to “sack himself.”
The Prime Minister was challenged on his response to revelations that William Wragg had been targeted in a so-called “honeytrap” scandal last week.
The MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester “voluntarily” resigned the Tory whip on Tuesday night.
Mr Wragg had been chair of the Commons’ public administration and constitutional affairs committee and vice-chair of the 1922 Committee of back-bench Tory MPs, but will now sit as an independent.
He admitted to 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.
Today Mr Sunak was asked by a caller during a phone-in on LBC whether he had shown a “complete lack and failure of leadership” by allowing Mr Wragg to “sack himself.”
He 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.
“The important thing here is that we let the police investigations run their course.
“People can judge me if they want to judge me on that, that’s fine, I accept that.”
The PM 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.
Ms Rayner has said that she received professional advice which categorically said she did not need to owe capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her home.
Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden MP said: “The fact it was left to William Wragg to resign is another indictment of Rishi Sunak’s weakness.
“His MPs were left yet again being sent out to defend a position that has collapsed.
“Rishi Sunak puts party management first every time — and he can’t even do that properly. It is no way to run a country.
“Britain deserves so much better than this endless Tory chaos.”
Mr Wragg won the 2019 Hazel Grove election with 48.8 per cent of the vote.
The Lib Dems’ Lisa Smart came second with 38.8 per cent, followed by Labour on 12.4 per cent.
