Exclusive.

The government spent more than £23k on legal services related to Michelle Donelan’s letter to UK Research and Innovation about members of an advisory panel, bringing the total cost of the incident to the government & UKRI to more than £60k.

researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-pol…

.Aggie Chambre on the profile of the men targeted by the Westminster honeytrapper

'We are aware of 22 people

They are between about 20 and their early 40s, and they are all — this is a deeply, deeply subjective thing to say — kind of good looking from Westminster standards'

EXC: Harold Wilson had an affair with a Downing Street aide, his closest surviving advisers have revealed after half a century of silence

Joe Haines & Bernard Donoughue say they want to commit the Labour PM’s affair with Janet Hewlett-Davies to history

thetimes.co.uk/article/harold…

🚨NEW: Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith urges ministers to pause fines of unpaid carers

Big intervention after The Guardian ⁦Patrick Butler⁩ series this week. Story with ⁦Eleni Courea⁩ 👇 theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

Fantastic The Media Society / Prospect event THIS THURSDAY: join Eleni Courea, Rob Ford, Katy Searle and Sam Woodhouse to discuss how we cover general elections – from debates, to interviews, to election night.

Tickets (students/unwaged free): eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-media-so…

The Westminster honeytrapper appears to have started targeting people 7+ months earlier than even this

I spoke to a former government special adviser who was first targeted in January 2023, from the same number later used to approach others

Story here: theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

To date, POLITICO has verified that at least 20 people were sent unsolicited WhatsApp messages by one or both of the numbers using the names “Abi” or “Charlie.” They are all men, generally aged between their late 20s and early 40s. Police investigating.

politico.eu/article/how-we…

Since Politico's explosive scoop earlier this week that MPs and political staffers had been hit by a Westminster sexting scandal, 17 people have been identified as having been targeted.

There is at least one other person: Me

thetimes.co.uk/article/honeyt…

NEW: William Wragg initially tried to cover his tracks on Weds as his name (privately) got connected to the WhatsApp honeytrap scandal

Wragg had previously assured a victim that the scammer, “Charlie,” had worked for him. He went back to the victim and said he’d made a mistake

Former SpAd targeted in the spear-phishing scandal on William Wragg:

“I don’t have any sympathy

He was faced with a choice – go to the authorities ... or hand over and subject a whole load of people to that threat, not knowing where that would lead'

theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

Exclusive:

* Secret Foreign Office legal advice has for weeks been heading to a tougher position on Israel’s compliance with international law

* but David Cameron is at the centre of a Cabinet row with pro-Israel ministers who oppose blocking arms sales

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

EXC: Tory grandee Nicholas Soames joins calls for the UK to stop arming Israel

“It’s probably time that that happened now, yes ... if we’re determined to show that we are not prepared to countenance these ongoing disasters'

theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

Tory MP — and PPS — Mark Logan says arms sales to Israel should be reviewed

NEW - Senior Tory official says Alan Duncan will be investigated for these remarks under the party's disciplinary process