The man accused of being behind last year's Westminster 'honeytrap' scandal has been charged with counts of blackmail and the improper use of a public electronic communications network.

Oliver Steadman, an ex-Labour councillor, has been named by police after he was charged.

The Met Police said the charges "relate to an investigation that was carried out by the Met's Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team."

He was arrested in June 2024 on suspicion of harassment and committing offences under the Online Safety Act, he remained on bail while a file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Steadman will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday, 3 November.

The scandal broke last May, when it emerged that a string of men working in politics had received unsolicited messages on WhatsApp and Grindr attempting to receive compromising and explicit photos, or salacious gossip.

William Wragg, a senior Tory MP, resigned the whip after admitting he had fallen for the trap and shared the phone numbers of fellow MPs to an individual because he was "scared".

Fellow MP Luke Evans admitted he had also been contacted by the fake profile.

The Labour Party suspended Mr Steadman after being informed of his arrest by the Met.

The Express also revealed that the so-called honetrap plotter had targetted the LibDems' conference, with at least six attendees receiving messages from the account, beginning with "flirty questions" before requesting "salacious gossip" about the conference, MPs and Lords.

Police had first been made aware of the messages late in 2023, but news of them began to emerge publicly in April.

In total around 20 people in political circles are thought to have received the unsolicited messages.