Former Labour councillor charged with blackmail over Westminster ‘honeytrap’ scandal

A former Labour councillor has been charged with blackmail and communications offences in connection with the Westminster ‘honeytrap’ scandal.

Several MPs and political figures from different parties reported receiving explicit messages from anonymous phone numbers last year, with former Conservative MP William Wragg admitting to giving the personal contact details of other MPs to a blackmailer on the gay dating app Grindr.

Former Islington councillor Oliver Steadman, 28, has been charged with one count of blackmail in relation to alleged unwarranted demands for the contact details of up to a dozen people. He has also been charged with five communications offences.

Steadman will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday, November 3 for a first hearing.

Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, said: “We have decided to prosecute Oliver Steadman with blackmail and five communications offences in relation to a total of five victims working within politics and Westminster.

“This follows an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service, which looked into messages that included alleged unsolicited indecent images sent to a number of people within parliamentary political circles between October 2023 and April 2024 using WhatsApp.

“Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring this case to court and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”

Steadman was suspended from the Labour Party last year, and he resigned as a councillor last July. LabourList understands he remains suspended from the party pending an internal investigation, which will be paused while legal proceedings take place.

READ MORE: Labour Party Conference 2025: Full LabourList events programme, revealed

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