What Katie did next
Once hailed as the Commons’ first 'openly trans MP', former Tory Jamie Wallis has admitted altering a passport image to evade a gambling ban
More than four years after Jamie Wallis was hailed as the Commons’ first ‘openly trans’ MP, he is back in the headlines, this time over a passport-image fiddle to get around a gambling ban.
In April 2022, while still an MP, Wallis changed the date on an image of his passport to access a betting site. He pleaded guilty to a Computer Misuse Act offence. Cardiff Crown Court imposed a nine-month conditional discharge. The judge called it a “single impulsive, unsophisticated act” during acute psychological distress.
Jamie Wallis, who now calls himself Katie, already had a long rap sheet. In 2022, he was convicted of failing to stop, failing to report a collision and leaving his Mercedes in a dangerous position after it hit a lamppost and telegraph pole. He was cleared of careless driving, fined £2,500 and banned from driving for six months. The court heard he was wearing a black leather miniskirt, tights, high heels and a pearl necklace when he walked away from the scene. The damaged pole left local residents without internet for several days.
Witnesses described Wallis as “extremely unsteady” on his feet. Wallis told the court he took medication for anxiety after getting home and felt drowsy. The judge said he did not find Wallis credible.
Months before the crash trial, Wallis announced online: “I’m trans. Or to be more accurate, I want to be.” He said he would “for the time being” continue using “he/him/his” pronouns. Then prime minister Boris Johnson told the Commons the House stood with Wallis and would support him “to live freely as yourself”. Tory chairman Oliver Dowden said he was “proud of my colleague Jamie Wallis” and promised: “As a Conservative family we stand together, and we will support you.”
Last year, Wallis pleaded guilty to harassing his ex-wife. One message, sent from an unknown number, demanded £350,000 within 15 minutes. The sentence included a 12-month community order, 12 days of rehabilitation activity, a £500 fine, £650 costs, a £114 surcharge and a 12-month restraining order.
The What Is a Woman? website also points to Wallis’s pre-Parliament business ventures. Quickie Divorce, a site run by his company, recommended a “sugar daddy” prostitution service advertising so-called “sponsorships” of up to £25,000 a year for students and single parents.
Wallis denied a financial interest in the service, but BuzzFeed reported that Companies House records linked him to the company behind it. Another associated firm, Action Direct, was barred by the Ministry of Justice from taking new employment-claims clients after a regulatory investigation.