The Tory MP Brooks Newmark has quit the government – after having been tricked into sending “inappropriate messages” on WhatsApp to a journalist posing as a 20-year-old Tory activist. As the Sunday Mirror puts it:-
As part of a series of exchanges, he sent a graphic picture exposing himself while wearing a pair of paisley pyjamas
No laws were broken and the paisley pyjamas at least show that some Tory traditions are being upheld. He’s not standing down as an MP – as we know, sending such pictures need not end a political career (Labour’s Chris Bryant says this increased his majority). But it doesn’t help a ministerial career: Newmark is out as civil society minister. He becomes he second Tory to quit in a day.
Newmark, a father of four, has always struck me as one of the nicer guys in politics – affable as well as sharp.
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