Stephen Crabb, a devout Christian and married father of two, exchanged messages with a younger women in the run-up to the EU vote

One of the leading Conservative candidates to be prime minister sent suggestive messages to a young woman after telling her that the “public can’t expect MPs to be angels”.

He said that most are “risk takers . . . in the areas of money, sex, political opportunism”, The Times can reveal.

Stephen Crabb, 43, a devout Christian and married father of two who placed his values and family at the centre of his failed candidacy for the Tory leadership, had a series of flirtatious and sexually charged exchanges with the woman on WhatsApp during the run-up to the EU referendum.

In a late-night exchange last month he told her that he wanted to kiss her “everywhere” and asked her to call him. The recipient, who