Labour's Andrew Gwynne has issued an empty apology for what looks to be a hugely damaging exposé by The Mail on Sunday. Gwynne has apparently been mouthing off in a Labour WhatsApp group for some time (since at least 2019) and someone in that group has recently leaked those messages. The group is said to include more than a dozen Labour councillors, party officials and at least one (as yet unnamed) fellow MP - all based in Greater Manchester. As news broke on Saturday, Starmer wasted no time in dispensing with his public health minister and suspended him from the party.
At the time of writing there is only one full WhatsApp message that has been revealed, a hypothetical response he made towards an elderly voter who had contacted one of the councillors in the group regarding bin collections. It's not clear yet if this is the worst of the messages, but surely it can't get much worse than this: "Dear resident, fuck your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs".
He is also reported to have joked about a constituent who was campaigning for more cycle lanes being 'mown down' by a truck while cycling. He also made anti-Semitic remarks and even took aim at Commons colleagues, specifically Diane Abbott and fellow Greater Manchester MP Angela Rayner. These remarks are thought to be of a sexist and, in relation to Abbott, racist nature. Gwynne and others in the group are said to have mocked the then Shadow Home Secretary when she took PMQs for 'Black History Month' in 2019.
Gwynne's response to his firing came in two posts on X, on which he blocked users from commenting. He also appears to have deleted his Facebook account.
Gwynne doesn't regret his comments or 'commments' as he put it. He regrets being found out.
An MP since 2005, for the Greater Manchester seat of Denton and Reddish (now redrawn as Gorton and Denton), Gwynne's career is now over. There is no coming back from this.
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