Tory MP comes out as trans: Bridgend MP Jamie Wallis says he was raped

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Boris Johnson today praised the bravery of a South Wales Tory who became the UK’s first openly transgender MP and also revealed he was the victim of rape and a £50,000 blackmail plot.

Jamie Wallis, 37, who represents Bridgend, revealed he ‘wants to be’ trans and is ‘not ok’ after someone tried to extort cash from him in return for silence about his secret. His blackmailer was jailed for two years and nine months in 2021, he said.

He also explained his conviction for crashing his Mercedes and fleeing the scene last September was as a result of suffering from PTSD after being raped weeks earlier following a date with a man he met online.

At the start of Prime Minister’s Questions today, Boris Johnson told the Commons: ‘The whole House will have read the statement from Jamie Wallis and I know the House stands with you and we’ll give you the support that you need to live freely as yourself.’ The Bridgend MP was then seen on the backbench of the chamber, surrounded by colleagues also offering their support.

The MP, elected in 2020, declared today ‘it is time’ for the world to know he is trans and thanked fellow Conservatives for their support at a dinner held by Mr Johnson for them at a luxury central London hotel last night.

Mr Wallis, who has not shared any new name, will be the UK’s first openly trans MP and said: ‘I have never lived my truth and I’m not sure how. Perhaps it starts with telling everyone.’ And in response to which pronouns he will use going forward he said: ‘I remain the same person I was yesterday. For the time being, I will continue to present as I always have and will use he/him/his’.

‘I am overwhelmed by the kindness and support I have received in the last few hours. I am proud to be completely open and honest about the struggles I have had, and continue to have, with my identity’, he added.   

Mr Wallis spoke out weeks after he was fined for crashing into a lamppost, cutting a village two miles from his home off the internet, before ‘running away’. No other vehicles were involved and no-one was injured in the collision. 

In a statement released on Twitter, Mr Wallis said he has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria – a term that describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender – and said: ‘I’ve felt this way since I was a very young child’.  

The Bridgend MP said he was trans, ‘or to be more accurate, I want to be’, and ‘always imagined I would leave politics well before I ever said this out loud’.

He also said he had been blackmailed over it, with the offender being sent to prison for more than two years, and claimed he has PTSD after being raped last year – and this led to his car crash and driving conviction. 

Today the Prime Minister praised his MP for sharing his ‘very intimate’ story ‘which will undoubtedly support others’, adding: ‘The Conservative Party I lead will always give you, and everyone else, the love and support you need to be yourself’. 

The row over trans rights has been a key battle in culture wars between the Westminster parties.

Jamie Wallis posted his admission online shortly before 3am today, after a gathering for Tory MPs at which Mr Johnson reportedly made a joke about trans issues. At the dinner, Politico reported the Prime Minister said: ‘Good evening, ladies and gentleman, or as (Labour leader Sir) Keir Starmer would put it, people who are assigned female or male at birth.’  

The statement was posted on Mr Wallis’ website and on Twitter, where he simply said ‘it’s time’. 

He said: ‘I’m trans. Or to be more accurate, I want to be. I’ve been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and I’ve felt this way since I was a very young child. 

‘I had no intention of ever sharing this with you. I always imagined I would leave politics well before I ever said this out loud.

‘There was a close call in April 2020 when someone Blackmailed me, outed me to my father and sent photographs to other family members. He wanted £50,000 to keep quiet. 

‘The police were so supportive, so understanding and on this occasion the system worked. He pled guilty and was sentenced to 2yrs and 9mnths in prison. 

‘A few months back, in September, I ‘hooked up’ with someone who I met online and when I chose to say ‘no’ on the basis that he wouldn’t wear a condom he chose to rape me. 

‘I have not been myself since this incident and I don’t think I will ever recover. It is not something you ever forget, and it is not something you ever move on from.

‘Since then things have really taken a tumble. I am not ok.

‘When I crashed my car on the 28th November I fled the scene. I did so because I was terrified. I have PTSD and I honestly have no idea what I was doing except I was overcome by an overwhelming sense of fear. I am sorry that it appears I ‘ran away’ but this isn’t how it happened in the moment’.

He added: ‘For a while it seemed as though I would be able to get on with things and move on. Being an MP and hiding something like this was always going to be tough, but I arrogantly assumed I was up for it. Well, I’m not.’ 

Last night he attended Boris Johnson’s Tory party dinner for MPs at the Park Plaza near Westminster Bridge, where the Prime Minister opened his speech with a joke about the issue after the Labour leader refused to answer a question about whether a woman can have a penis.

Mr Johnson said: ‘Good evening ladies and gentleman. Or, as Keir Starmer would put it, people who are assigned female or male at birth.’

But he dodged this in this statement, saying: ‘It was lovely to speak to colleagues away from Parliament, and I appreciated the occasion for a number of reasons’.

He added: ‘I was reminded of the incredible support those you work with can provide. Also, I was reminded how important it is to be yourself. I have never lived my truth and I’m not sure how. Perhaps it starts with telling everyone’.

His statement has been met by an outpouring of good wishes from all MPs.

Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden said: ‘Proud of my colleague Jamie Wallis. As a Conservative family we stand together, and we will support you.

‘I hope that your brave statement will help others.’ 

Fellow Tory MPs showed their support for Mr Wallis, with former whip Mike Fabricant saying it was ‘a very brave statement’.

Alicia Kearns said: ‘You have changed this country today Your bravery will give hope and courage to people across our country.

‘From the trans community, to survivors we all here for you, as you live your life as your true self, but ever as our friend.’

Equalities minister Mike Freer started business in the House of Commons by acknowledging the ‘enormously personal’ statement by his Conservative colleague Jamie Wallis, telling MPs: ‘I hope I speak for the whole House in sending our support.

‘It is so important that people are free and safe to be themselves, whoever they are and whoever they love.’

Other MPs echoed their support for Mr Wallis during women and equalities questions.

Wallis became the first Conservative to win the Bridgend seat of Bridgend since the 1980s when elected in 2019.

Welsh politicians from all sides of the political spectrum rallied around to support Wallis after the announcement.

Labour MP Chris Bryant said: ‘Dear Jamie I wish you all the very best. Colleagues across the House will respect your openness honesty and the journey you are on. Cwtch.’

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: ‘A very brave statement, Jamie. The Welsh Conservative family are always here for you.’

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville-Roberts said: ‘This is an extraordinarily brave message to send out, Jamie. Whatever our politics, public life is unremitting and often merciless. Great respect for your personal courage.’

In 2020 there were calls for the Tories to kick out Mr Wallis after he was accused of co-owning a ‘sugar daddy’ website offering to set up ‘vulnerable’ people needing money with wealthy older benefactors. 

He was reported to have been involved with the now defunct www.sugar-daddy.net.

It offered to put students, single parents and those ‘just short of money’ in contact with ‘1000s of wealthy executives, international businessmen and diplomats’ willing to pay them between £2,000 and £25,000 a year, according to Buzzfeed.

Labour’s Jess Phillips started an online petition calling on Boris Johnson to Strip Mr Wallis of the whip, saying: ‘Let’s be clear: sugar daddy is a euphemism for something deeply ugly: exploitation of women by powerful men.

‘The Tories should feel ashamed sitting alongside Jamie Wallis. The only way to show they don’t condone this kind of behaviour is to remove the whip.’

And Jon Trickett MP, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister added: ‘This website and Jamie Wallis’s other businesses range from the unsavoury to the downright appalling, with exploitation at the heart of every one’.

According to Buzzfeed, in 2008 Mr Wallis was a shareholder and director in Fields Group Limited, the parent company of SD Billing Services, which owned Sugar-daddy.net, citing Companies House records.

The website was active from 2004 until it was taken offline in 2010.

But in a statement provided to Buzzfeed last week, Mr Wallis said: ‘The site appears to have been owned and operated by a company named SD Billing Services Limited.

‘For the avoidance of any doubt, I have never had a financial interest, nor been a director of SD Billing services Limited and cannot comment on its operational activities.’

He won his seat in Bridgend, Wales, by just 1,000 votes, in part thanks to election manager Gordon Lewis.

But in July 2020 it emerged Lewis, 55, was once given a 16-month suspended sentence when he threatened to kill his own son with a knife and a baseball bat.

He admitted affray and two charges of common assault in 2015 relating to a violent outburst at a party the year before.