<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s campaign for a vital byelection has been dealt a fresh blow after six local councillors were found to have breached standards rules in a \u201cvile\u201d WhatsApp chat.<\/p>\n
Andrew Gwynne, a former health minister, was suspended last year<\/a> over offensive messages he sent in the \u201cTrigger Me Timbers\u201d group, including one saying he hoped a 72-year-old woman \u201ccroaks it\u201d before an election.<\/p>\n Six Labour councillors have now been found to have shown \u201ccomplete disregard\u201d for standards in public life, the Guardian has learned \u2013 including one judged to have made \u201cseveral remarks that a reasonable person would find racist\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Gwynne apologised again last week for messages he sent as he announced his retirement as the MP for the south-east Manchester<\/a> seat.<\/p>\n Keir Starmer is facing a challenge from Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK and the Green party, which both fancy overturning Labour\u2019s 13,000-vote majority in what would be a blow to the prime minister.<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Yet Labour faces another political headache as the \u201cTrigger Me Timbers\u201d controversy resurfaces, potentially reigniting local anger in the week that Starmer is expected to announce the party\u2019s candidate.<\/p>\n A 94-page investigation concluded that one Labour councillor, George Newton, made \u201cseveral remarks that a reasonable person would find racist\u201d about the Labour MP Nav Mishra.<\/p>\n Another, Jack Naylor, was judged to have made an antisemitic joke when he changed the lyrics of an Elton John song to \u201cAnd I guess that\u2019s why she hates all the Jews\u201d in a discussion about an unnamed person.<\/p>\n Newton and Naylor have since been expelled by the party but continue to represent Denton as independent councillors.<\/p>\n Naylor will tell councillors his comment was \u201cill-judged and inappropriate\u201d but strongly contests any accusation of antisemitism. In a written statement, he offered a \u201cfull and unequivocal\u201d apology and added: \u201cThere is no justification for my involvement, irrespective of any inexperience \u2013 I take full responsibility for my actions; and for any offence caused, regardless of my intent, I am truly sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n The damning findings came after a formal complaint about Gwynne and other Labour figures making \u201cdisgusting, racist, sexist, homophobic and vile comments\u201d.<\/p>\n The investigation found that Newton \u201cpersistently abused and denigrated\u201d people including Mishra, making remarks that \u201ca reasonable person would find racist\u201d.<\/p>\n Newton said he regretted his \u201cchildish\u201d language but told the investigation he was making \u201cprivate jokes on a private messaging platform\u201d. He said he did not believe he had breached the councillors\u2019 code of conduct \u201cbecause it was a private conversation\u201d.<\/p>\n It is understood that Newton intends to apologise for the messages but will dispute the investigator\u2019s interpretation of the private texts in a group where there was \u201cobviously a power dynamic at play\u201d.<\/p>\n Naylor was found to have made an antisemitic joke and \u201coffensive\u201d remarks about voters, children and politicians. He failed to speak to the independent investigation by the solicitor Linda Comstive, according to her report.<\/p>\n Two others, Gwynne\u2019s wife, Allison Gwynne, and Claire Reid, a former member of Labour\u2019s national policy forum, were suspended for six months for their role in the group.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The group is facing further censure when the investigation is considered by Tameside council\u2019s standards subcommittee on Monday next week.<\/p>\n The messages caused huge public anger locally, prompting protests and calls for Andrew Gwynne\u2019s resignation. It also threw the spotlight on a local Labour group that some have described<\/a> as \u201ctoxic\u201d.<\/p>\n In one post, Gwynne said someone \u201csounds too Jewish\u201d and \u201ctoo militaristic\u201d from their name. He also asked: \u201cIs he in Mossad?\u201d<\/p>\n He also made derogatory remarks about Diane Abbott and Angela Rayner, and joked<\/a> that a local cycling campaigner should be \u201cmown down\u201d by a lorry. In another, he suggested<\/a> a local vicar should be \u201cburned on a bonfire\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The investigation heard that residents were \u201cdisgusted\u201d by the comments about voters but were too frightened to complain for fear of retribution.<\/p>\n A charity worker told Comstive that an elderly Labour supporter, who is neurodivergent, had been left \u201cdistraught\u201d after he was called a \u201cterrible name\u201d in the WhatsApp group, which teenagers had since shouted at him in the street.<\/p>\n They said: \u201cPeople 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Labours #Gorton #Denton #byelection #campaign #hit #fallout #vile #WhatsApp #chat #Labour<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labour\u2019s campaign for a vital … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}