Leadership takes further action over ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ group after suspension of two of its MPs. A dozen 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. 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 from Stockport and Tameside councils. Reddish, part of Stockport, used to be in Gwynne’s constituency of Denton and Reddish before boundary changes.
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. “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.”.
