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Eleven Labour councillors have been suspended from the party over their membership of the “Trigger Me Timbers” WhatsApp group that has already led to the suspension of two MPs.
Andrew Gwynne, the MP for Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester, was sacked as a health minister and suspended from the party after messages he had posted in the chat were leaked.
As first revealed by the Mail On Sunday, Gwynne was accused of posting messages containing racist and sexist comments. The cache of thousands of messages spans a period from 2019 to 2022.
Gwynne is also alleged to have sent messages suggesting a local cycling campaigner should be “mown down” by a lorry, and hoping a pensioner who didn’t vote Labour “croaks it” before an election.
“I’m shocked and upset, and not just myself [but] my family, my partner, my children, have been profoundly distressed by this,” the cyclist told the Guardian on Monday.
In further messages seen by the Guardian, Gwynne refers to a constituent as a “grade A wanker” and says: “The public are arseholes. I know, I’ve met them …”
He also described a constituent as “an illiterate retard” and a fellow councillor as a “fat middle aged useless thicket”.
In a post on X, Gwynne apologised for “badly misjudged” comments, adding “while very sad to have been suspended, will support [Labour and the prime minister] in any way I can.”
A second MP, Oliver Ryan, who represents Burnley in Lancashire, and was previously a councillor in Tameside, Greater Manchester, was suspended by the party on Monday over his membership of, and comments in, the group.
Posting on X, he said some of the comments made in the group were “completely unacceptable”.
“I regret not speaking out at the time, and I recognise that failing to do so was wrong,” he said.
It is thought that about 44 people were members of the WhatsApp group.
Those suspended by Labour are two from Stockport and nine Tameside councils.
Reddish, part of Stockport, used to be in Gwynne’s constituency of Denton and Reddish before boundary changes.
It is understood the Tameside councillors include Gwynne’s wife, Allison Gwynne, former council leader Brenda Warrington, and Claire Reid, a member of Labour’s national policy forum.
One post in the group by Allison Gwynne suggested local children “always enjoyed swimming in street rubbish/raw sewage”.
According to party insiders, the chat was originally set up to discuss routine business, such as campaign literature, and electioneering, but soon turned “nasty”.
Gerald Cooney, the former Labour leader of Tameside council in Greater Manchester, said he had told senior party officials about the WhatsApp group “well over a year ago”, and raised it multiple times.
A Labour source said the party had not received any formal complaint about the WhatsApp group.
One senior member of the Tameside Labour group said the party was “in chaos” and some were “fuming” at being suspended.
“I know from talking to councillors some of them are fuming because they’re being associated with those vile posts. Just by their suspension it looks like they’ve been involved but they’ve never posted anything on that group,” they said.
“Tameside Labour is in chaos now. We’ve got to consider the position of the leader because she appointed those people [Gwynne’s allies] to cabinet positions just a few months ago, with the blessing of the national party. This is completely untenable.”
“As part of our WhatsApp group investigation, a group of councillors have been administratively suspended from the Labour party,” a spokesperson said.
“As soon as this group was brought to our attention, a thorough investigation was launched in line with the Labour party’s rules and procedures and this process is ongoing. Swift action will always be taken where individuals are found to have breached the high standards expected of them as Labour party members.”
