A senior Tory has been embroiled in a ‘furry’ sex scandal after a texting blunder.
The politician accidentally sent a photograph of himself dressed as a dog being led on a leash to a group of colleagues on WhatsApp.
The photograph appeared to reveal he is a ‘furry’—someone who enjoys dressing up as an animal as a sexual preference.
Two sources familiar with the breach described the photograph to The Mail on Sunday and said it was quickly deleted.
The WhatsApp group was full of fellow Conservatives and used for work.
One said they were ‘shocked’ by the blunder, which occurred at the end of last year.
‘The assessment came that he is a furry. It was assumed he did this as a hobby rather than for innocent fun.’
Another source said: ‘I had to explain [to one of the recipients] what a furry was.’
A senior Tory accidentally sent a photograph of himself dressed as a dog being led on a leash to a group of colleagues on WhatsApp
The politician, whom this newspaper has chosen not to name, has been involved with campaigning for the party at a senior level during the recent local elections and last year’s general election, and has rubbed shoulders with senior members of the Shadow Cabinet.
It is the latest communications blunder to have hit the Conservative Party in recent months.
Last month The Mail on Sunday revealed secret Tory documents ended up in Labour hands after accidentally being emailed to a researcher with the same name as an aide to Kemi Badenoch.
The documents included strategic planning by Mrs Badenoch’s inner circle, and the mistake occurred because a Commons researcher was cc-ed on an email chain instead of the Tory official.
And Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick recently suffered his own messaging gaffe when his team added 600 people – including dozens of journalists – to a WhatsApp group about his plan to run a marathon.
It led to jokes that Mr Jenrick was ‘running’ for leader again, having come second to Mrs Badenoch in last year’s leadership race.
