Jamie Wallis comes out as UK's first openly trans MP, revealing he has been raped and blackmailed

• A Conservative MP has become the first in the UK to come out as transgender.
• Jamie Wallis also revealed he had been raped last year, and fled a car crash while suffering PTSD.

A Conservative MP has come out as the first openly transgender member of the UK's parliament.

Jamie Wallis, the MP for Bridgend & Porthcawl in Wales, issued a statement on Twitter in the early hours of Wednesday morning saying "it's time".

The announcement came as the MP wrote "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."

In the emotive statement, the MP also revealed he had been blackmailed, with the individual demanding £50,000 ($65,653) "to keep quiet". However, Wallis said the police had been "supportive" and the individual was jailed for 2 years and 9 months.

Wallis was also raped in September 2021, the statement reveals. "I have not been myself since this incident and I don't think I will ever recover," the MP says, adding they are now suffering PTSD – which led to them fleeing the scene of a car crash in late November 2021.

Wallis said he "imagined [he] would leave politics well before [he] ever said this out loud", but felt emboldened by the support of colleagues following Tuesday night's all-party parliamentary dinner hosted by Boris Johnson.

Opening the event, Johnson told Tory backbenchers: "Good evening ladies and gentleman, or as Keir Starmer would put it, people who are assigned female or male at birth," Politico reports.

Wallis did not reference this joke, however, the issue of trans rights has become a political hot potato in Westminster in recent weeks as the Labour frontbench has struggled to clearly articulate where the party stands.

The MP concluded the statement saying: "I have never lived my truth and I'm not sure how. Perhaps it starts with telling everyone."

Wallis has received a great number of comments from crossbench MPs, supporting both the announcement and the details of the trauma the MP has gone through.

The Prime Minister is amongst those pledging support to Wallis, saying "The Conservative Party I lead will always give you, and everyone else, the love and support you need to be yourself."

Writing a follow-up statement, Wallis said the concept of being trans is "still very new," and he will continue to use he/him/his pronouns going forward, saying he is still "the same person I was yesterday."