Yet another gay sex scandal for the UK government

Mark Menzies is a UK member of parliament - he's a member of the governing Tory party, a conservative political party, and represents the constituency of Fylde near Manchester. Menzies has been a member of parliament since 2010.

Following allegations of misappropriation of campaign funds, Menzies has been suspended from the Tory party.

The allegations have been widely reported in the UK media, first published in conservative-leaning newspaper, The Times.

Menzies has denied the allegations, saying that he has always followed funding declaration rules.

According to the account published by The Times, the allegations date back to December 2023 when Menzies phoned his then-campaign manager in the early hours of the morning, saying that he was locked in a flat by “some bad people”, and needed £5,000 as a matter of “life and death”.

The campaign manager allegedly paid Menzies the amount of £6,500 from her personal savings and this amount was apparently reimbursed to her from campaign donations.

According to reporting of the allegations, Menzies needed the money after meeting a man from a dating website, reportedly going to the man’s flat, then going with another man to a second address, where he was drinking. 

In a statement, Menzies said: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing, I will not be commenting further.”

A Tory spokesperson said: “The Conservative Party is investigating allegations made regarding a member of parliament. This process is rightfully confidential. The party takes all allegations seriously and will always investigate any matters put to them.”

This is not the first time that Menzies' private life has hit the headlines. In 2014, he faced allegations that he paid a male escort for sex and drugs. Speaking about those allegations at the time, Menzies said the allegations were “not true”, adding that he needed “a period of stability to rebuild my private life and continue to focus on helping constituents”.

Senior UK politician falls victim to gay dating app scam

William Wragg has admitted sending the personal phone numbers of numerous colleagues to someone he connected with on a gay dating app, because they were blackmailing him.

First elected in 2015, Wragg is the member of parliament representing the constituency of Hazel Grove – near Manchester. He’s a member of the Tory party – the conservative party that currently forms the government in the UK.

According to Wragg’s explanation, he started chatting to someone on a gay dating app and shared intimate photos of himself. The person he was chatting to then started asking for the contact numbers of Wragg’s parliamentary colleagues.

Wragg claimed he was “scared” because the person he had been chatting with had “compromising things on me” and 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…” said Wragg.

Wragg publicly identifies as a gay man so it appears that the only leverage that the blackmailer had on Wragg was whatever the politician had shared via the dating app.

The story has emerged because a number of people within parliament have reported receiving unsolicited messages that appear to be an attempted ‘honey trap’ scheme – a term used to describe using sexual or romantic relationships for personal, political or monetary gain.

“I got chatting to a guy on an app and we exchanged pictures…” explained Wragg. “We were meant to meet up for drinks, but didn’t. Then he started asking for numbers of people. I was worried because he had stuff on me. He gave me a WhatsApp number, which doesn’t work now. I’ve hurt people by being weak. I was scared. I’m mortified. I’m so sorry that my weakness has caused other people hurt.”

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the House of Commons speaker, has advised that the parliamentary security department is looking into the matter. So far, it doesn’t appear that Wragg will face any consequences for his actions – he hasn’t been suspended by the Tory party. Wragg had previously announced that he would not seek reelection when then next general election is held.