Andrew Gwynne WhatsApp messages probe launched as extra Labour politicians might be suspended

Keir Starmer is under pressure to punish other Labour figures part of a WhatsApp group in which a minister allegedly sent racist, sexist and antisemitic messages.

Health minister Andrew Gwynne was sacked over the weekend after he reportedly joked that he hoped an elderly woman would die after she asked about her bins. He also made a series of antisemitic comments in his messages, as well as racist remarks about veteran MP Diane Abbott and sexist comments about Deputy PM Angela Rayner performing a sex act.

The WhatsApp group called Trigger Me Timbers reportedly includes more than a dozen Labour councillors, party officials and at least one other MP, all based on the outskirts of Manchester. On Sunday housing minister Matthew Pennycook could not say if others in the chat will be suspended but that an investigation is taking place and “any action” that follows from it “will be seen through”.

He branded Mr Gwynne’s comments “completely unacceptable” and said he didn’t know the details of other people’s comments in the WhatsApp group. He added: “What the public can take from the way the Prime Minister has acted decisively in this case to dismiss Andrew Gwynne is that if any other Labour MP or minister falls short he will act to uphold the highest standards in public office.

“I don’t think anyone can be in any doubt about this Prime Minister or this Government’s commitment to upholding the highest standards in public office and to rooting out antisemitism from the Labour Party, root and branch.”

Mr Starmer vowed to root out antisemitism from Labour after he took over leading the party from Jeremy Corbyn in 2020. In February 2023, Britain’s equality watchdog announced it was no longer “monitoring” the Labour Party after the body’s damning anti-Semitism report over two years before. It marked a major moment for the party after its “day of shame” in October 2020 when the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found it had committed unlawful acts.

After Mr Gwynne’s messages emerged on Saturday night, he was both sacked as a minister and suspended from the Labour Party. A government spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is determined to uphold high standards of conduct in public office and lead a government in the service of working people. He will not hesitate to take action against any minister who fails to meet these standards, as he has in this case.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “We are investigating comments made in this WhatsApp group in line with the Labour Party’s rules and procedures. Swift action will be taken if individuals are found to have breached the high standards expected of them as Labour Party members.”

Tory shadow minister Alex Burghart said Mr Gwynne’s message about an elderly constituent was “sort of quite a nasty attempt to do down an old person” and “sort of reflects the attitude that the Labour Party seems to have to elderly voters generally”. He told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News that a message in which Mr Gwynne is said to have written that someone’s name sounded “too Jewish” is “sinister”.

Put to him that Mr Starmer sacked Mr Gwynne as a minister right away – a shift from long and drawn out Tory rows – Mr Burghart said: “But that was a big WhatsApp group with a lot of other Labour members – did any of them step in at the time? Did any of them call that out? That is a very serious remark, and if the Prime Minister doesn’t take action against everyone in that group very quickly, we know that there is still a problem in the Labour Party.”

In a statement on Twitter, Mr Gwynne wrote: “I deeply regret my badly misjudged comments and apologise for any offence I’ve caused. I’ve served the Labour Party all my life and it was a huge honour to be appointed a minister by Keir Starmer. I entirely understand the decisions the PM and the party have taken and, while very sad to have been suspended, will support them in any way I can.”