Labour’s Gorton and Denton byelection campaign hit by fallout from ‘vile’ WhatsApp chat
Labour’s campaign for a vital byelection has been dealt a fresh blow after six local councillors were found to have breached standards rules in a “vile” WhatsApp chat.Andrew Gwynne, a former health minister, was suspended last year over offensive messages he sent in the “Trigger Me Timbers” group, including one saying he hoped a 72-year-old woman “croaks it” before an election.Six Labour councillors have now been found to have shown “complete disregard” for standards in public life, the Guardian has learned – including one judged to have made “several remarks that a reasonable person would find racist”.The findings of a damning independent investigation into the WhatsApp group are due to be considered by councillors next week, less than four weeks before the Gorton and Denton byelection expected on 26 February.Gwynne apologised again last week for messages he sent as he announced his retirement as the MP for the south-east Manchester seat.
Keir Starmer is facing a challenge from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the Green party, which both fancy overturning Labour’s 13,000-vote majority in what would be a blow to the prime minister.Starmer’s allies have denied claims that they have sacrificed the constituency to a rival party after Andy Burnham, his potential leadership rival, was blocked from standing for election.Yet Labour faces another political headache as the “Trigger Me Timbers” controversy resurfaces, potentially reigniting local anger in the week that Starmer is expected to announce the party’s candidate.A 94-page investigation concluded that one Labour councillor, George Newton, made “several remarks that a reasonable person would find racist” about the Labour MP Nav Mishra.Another, Jack Naylor, was judged to have made an antisemitic joke when he changed the lyrics of an Elton John song to “And I guess that’s why she hates all the Jews” in a discussion about an unnamed person.
Newton and Naylor have since been expelled by the party but continue to represent Denton as independent councillors,Naylor will tell councillors his comment was “ill-judged and inappropriate” but strongly contests any accusation of antisemitism,In a written statement, he offered a “full and unequivocal” apology and added: “There is no justification for my involvement, irrespective of any inexperience – I take full responsibility for my actions; and for any offence caused, regardless of my intent, I am truly sorry,”The damning findings came after a formal complaint about Gwynne and other Labour figures making “disgusting, racist, sexist, homophobic and vile comments”,The investigation found that Newton “persistently abused and denigrated” people including Mishra, making remarks that “a reasonable person would find racist”.
Newton said he regretted his “childish” language but told the investigation he was making “private jokes on a private messaging platform”,He said he did not believe he had breached the councillors’ code of conduct “because it was a private conversation”,It is understood that Newton intends to apologise for the messages but will dispute the investigator’s interpretation of the private texts in a group where there was “obviously a power dynamic at play”,Naylor was found to have made an antisemitic joke and “offensive” remarks about voters, children and politicians,He failed to speak to the independent investigation by the solicitor Linda Comstive, according to her report.
Two others, Gwynne’s wife, Allison Gwynne, and Claire Reid, a former member of Labour’s national policy forum, were suspended for six months for their role in the group,Reid resigned as a councillor last month, but Gwynne remains a Labour councillor,Two others, including the former council leader Brenda Warrington, were given written warnings but are still sitting as Labour councillors,The group is facing further censure when the investigation is considered by Tameside council’s standards subcommittee on Monday next week,The messages caused huge public anger locally, prompting protests and calls for Andrew Gwynne’s resignation.
It also threw the spotlight on a local Labour group that some have described as “toxic”,In one post, Gwynne said someone “sounds too Jewish” and “too militaristic” from their name,He also asked: “Is he in Mossad?”He also made derogatory remarks about Diane Abbott and Angela Rayner, and joked that a local cycling campaigner should be “mown down” by a lorry,In another, he suggested a local vicar should be “burned on a bonfire”,Gwynne was immediately suspended by Labour and remained under investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog when he announced his retirement last week, triggering the byelection.
The investigation heard that residents were “disgusted” by the comments about voters but were too frightened to complain for fear of retribution.A charity worker told Comstive that an elderly Labour supporter, who is neurodivergent, had been left “distraught” after he was called a “terrible name” in the WhatsApp group, which teenagers had since shouted at him in the street.They said: “People in the community feel that there is no one they can turn to, as there is no local Labour councillor representing them and no Labour MP; they are too scared of having their coffee morning resources taken away or bins not emptied.They have been told if you do not vote for us (ie Labour) you will be dead.”
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Reform UK has announced that Matt Goodwin, the campaigner and former academic, as its candidate in Gorton and Denton.In a news release, Reform said:Matt is a leading writer, broadcaster and academic. He was made by Manchester - which he calls ‘the greatest city in the world’. He lived in the city for many years and considers it home.Matt’s family is from Manchester
Was Labour right to block Andy Burnham’s return as an MP? | Letters
The argument that it would be too costly to run a mayoral election in Manchester and run the risk of its being won by Reform UK is perfectly valid (‘Huge mistake’: Labour in turmoil as Burnham blocked from byelection race, 25 January). The problem is that that is not how the decision of the Labour party’s national executive committee will be read. And this is now a pattern.Kicking off with the foolhardy acceptance of luxury goodies from Lord Alli, fast followed by the removal of pensioners’ winter fuel payments and going on to a failure to read the runes over the grooming gangs and many other depressing own goals, this government has demonstrated a quite astonishing lack of self-awareness.Keir Starmer is now beginning to resemble, of all unlikely people, Boris Johnson in his seeming inability to grasp how badly some of his decisions – and subsequent reversals – reflect on him
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For Jamie Jewell, the pub owner at the Golden Lion, there has been radio silence from his local MP, Suella Braverman. In January last year, the MP for Fareham and Waterlooville visited the pub, offered to help the owners with removing a protected tree that was damaging the property, and posted photos with the staff on her Facebook page and for local media.Jewell has not heard back from her since. “I’ve sent emails saying ‘we need support here’ and never received a response. Not even an acknowledgment,” Jewell said
Burnham accuses No 10 sources of lying about byelection decision
The Labour party’s civil war over the Gorton and Denton byelection has intensified after Andy Burnham accused Downing Street sources of lying about his decision to apply to stand in the Manchester seat.The Manchester mayor was reacting to suggestions by unnamed Keir Starmer allies that he had been told “in no uncertain terms” that any request to the NEC committee to put his name forward for the byelection would be refused.Responding to a post on X by ITV’s political editor, Robert Peston, which suggested sources close to the PM therefore saw Burnham’s move to stand as an explicit attempt to destabilise Starmer, Burnham wrote: “This is simply untrue.” Peston then sent a follow-up message saying a second source had backed up Burnham’s version of events, adding that Burnham was “seeking an urgent call with No 10 about the briefing”.A No 10 spokesperson said it was not true that anyone close to Starmer had told Burnham the NEC would refuse his application
Labour’s Gorton and Denton byelection campaign hit by fallout from ‘vile’ WhatsApp chat
Labour’s campaign for a vital byelection has been dealt a fresh blow after six local councillors were found to have breached standards rules in a “vile” WhatsApp chat.Andrew Gwynne, a former health minister, was suspended last year over offensive messages he sent in the “Trigger Me Timbers” group, including one saying he hoped a 72-year-old woman “croaks it” before an election.Six Labour councillors have now been found to have shown “complete disregard” for standards in public life, the Guardian has learned – including one judged to have made “several remarks that a reasonable person would find racist”.The findings of a damning independent investigation into the WhatsApp group are due to be considered by councillors next week, less than four weeks before the Gorton and Denton byelection expected on 26 February.Gwynne apologised again last week for messages he sent as he announced his retirement as the MP for the south-east Manchester seat
Deacon Blue ‘appalled’ by Reform UK’s Scottish leader quoting their song lyrics
One of Scotland’s most celebrated rock bands, Deacon Blue, say they are “appalled” that one of their greatest hits is being used by Reform UK’s new Scottish leader to bolster his party’s “poisonous rhetoric”.Malcolm Offord quoted at length on Monday from the group’s song Dignity at his first major speech since he was announced as Reform UK’s first Scottish leader, three months before a crucial Holyrood election in which the party is expected to win up to 18 seats.Responding overnight from Perth, Australia, where the band are embarking on a two-week tour with songs from their new album, The Great Western Road, Deacon Blue told the Guardian: “Once a song is released into the world it can be sung, listened to and loved or hated by anyone; that is just the nature of releasing a song.“However, it appals us to see the lyrics of any of our songs being used to bolster a campaign and ideology which is completely at odds with what the song, and we as a band, believe”.Describing it as “one of my favourite songs”, the multimillionaire financier said the lyrics encapsulated his own journey from growing up in modest circumstances on the Clyde and admiring the yachts he “couldn’t afford to sail”, to making his money in the City of London and now being able to afford several yachts of his own
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