Parliamentary career
At the 2015 general election Wragg was elected as MP for Hazel Grove, winning with 41.4% of the vote and a majority of 6,552. [11] [12] He stood down as a councillor and, in 2016, the Liberal Democrats won back the Hazel Grove council ward seat. [13]
In February 2016, Wragg disclosed that he had moved back to his parents' house in order to save money for a deposit on buying a house. [14] [15]
In May 2016, it was reported that Wragg was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the 2015 general election party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses; he was interviewed, under caution, by Police in 2017, after which Police passed his file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). [16] In May 2017, the CPS decided that no criminal charges would be brought. [17]
Wragg campaigned for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum and, following the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, campaigned for Andrea Leadsom in the 2016 Conservative leadership election. [18]
At the snap 2017 general election, Wragg was re-elected as MP for Hazel Grove with an increased vote share of 45.4% and a decreased majority of 5,514. [19] He had been targeted by the successor to the Remain campaign, Open Britain, for his support of a hard Brexit. [20] Wragg served on the Procedure, Education and Backbench Business Committees, and the Finance Committee. [21]
At the 2019 general election, Wragg was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 48.8% and a decreased majority of 4,423. [22] In January 2020, Wragg was elected to chair the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee. [23] Wragg won the contest by 335 to 183 votes. [24]
Following an interim report on the connections between colonialism and properties now in the care of the National Trust, including links with historic slavery, Wragg was among the signatories of a letter to The Telegraph in November 2020 from the "Common Sense Group" of Conservative Parliamentarians. The letter accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'". [25]
In 2020, Wragg became a "lockdown rebel" and a steering committee member of the lockdown-sceptic COVID Recovery Group alongside a group of Conservatives who opposed the UK government's December 2020 lockdown. [26] The Guardian described the group as European Research Group (ERG)-inspired, [27] and a response by backbench Conservatives to Nigel Farage's anti-lockdown Reform UK party. [26]
On 12 January 2022, Wragg called for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign over the Westminster lockdown parties controversy. [28] Wragg publicly confirmed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Johnson. [29] On 20 January 2022, Wragg accused whips of blackmail against Conservative MPs who were believed to support ousting Johnson as prime minister. He said he had heard stories of MPs being told they could face loss of public investment in their constituencies and releasing of embarrassing stories. [30] On 24 January, the Metropolitan Police met with Wragg to discuss the allegations. [29]
Wragg became the sixth MP to call for Prime Minister Liz Truss's resignation on 19 October 2022. He also submitted a letter of no confidence in her leadership. [31] On 22 November 2022, Wragg announced he would be standing down at the 2024 general election. [32]
In April 2024, Wragg admitted to providing the contact details of several other Conservative MPs to a blackmailer after being the victim of a honeytrap on the casual sex app Grindr, stating: "I was scared. I'm mortified. I'm so sorry that my weakness has caused other people hurt". [33] [34] [35] Wragg later quit both his role as chair of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and as vice chair of the 1922 Committee. [36] On 9 April 2024 Wragg resigned the Conservative Party whip and sat as an Independent. [37]
