Health minister Andrew Gwynne has been sacked over a series of abusive and offensive messages sent to a WhatsApp chat, including one in which he said he “had positive visions” of a constituent who asked for more cycleways in Greater Manchester “getting mown down by an HGV”.
The messages were revealed by the Mail on Sunday and were sent to a WhatsApp group called ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ that included other Labour members.
Gwynne has been sacked, housing minister Matthew Pennycook calling the messages “completely unacceptable”. The disgraced former minister yesterday apologised for what he called “badly misjudged” comments, the WhatsApp messages also including one where he said he hoped a 72-year-old woman writing to politicians about bin collections would soon be dead.
The Mail also claimed that others contained sexist remarks about Angela Rayner, racist remarks about Diane Abbott, and appeared to make light of antisemitism.
Gwynne, the MP for Gorton and Denton, has been “administratively suspended”, one message to the WhatsApp group referring to a constituent called ‘Nick’ who had asked for more cycle lanes in Greater Manchester. The former minister messaged the group explaining he’d “had positive visions of him getting mown down by an Elsa Waste HGV while he’s cycling to the Fallowfield Loop [a cycleway in Manchester]. We couldn’t be that lucky!”
Active travel campaign group Walk Ride GM said it is “appalled” by the remarks and suggested it “speaks volumes about the contempt some politicians have for road violence”.
“Every year, more than 80 cyclists are killed on British roads, people who set out on their bikes and never return home due to the unacceptable dangers they face. Dismissing or mocking those affected by road violence undermines the urgent need for action to make our streets safer,” a Walk Ride GM spokesperson commented.
“It is disgraceful that instead of engaging with constituents advocating for safer roads, local politicians are ridiculing those who highlight the risks that cyclists face every day. We demand an apology from the local Labour Party in Greater Manchester for these comments and a commitment to treating road danger as the serious issue it is.
“We ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, to meet with Walk Ride GM to discuss how the government intends to address the concerns of campaign groups advocating for an end to road violence — starting with ensuring that their own MPs and councillors engage with the issue with the gravity it deserves.”
The Times has reported that Oliver Ryan, a fellow Labour MP, was also in the WhatsApp group and questions have been asked about why Gwynne was not challenged on his comments.
Ryan said in a statement: “Between 2019 and early 2022, I was a member of a WhatsApp group created by my MP and former employer, Andrew Gwynne. Some of the comments made in that group were completely unacceptable, and I fully condemn them.
“I regret not speaking out at the time, and I recognise that failing to do so was wrong. I did not see every message, but I accept responsibility for not being more proactive in challenging what was said. I also made some comments myself which I deeply regret and would not make today and for that I wholeheartedly apologise. I will co-operate fully with the Labour Party’s investigation.”
A government spokesperson said Prime Minister Keir Starmer is “determined to uphold high standards of those in public office” and “will not hesitate to take action against any minister who fails to meet these standards”.
Apologising in a post on social media, 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.”
Gwynne has been in politics since 1996 when he was elected as England’s youngest councillor, aged 21. He was elected to Parliament in 2005 and appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention following the last election.
Walk Ride GM has asked to meet with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander following the weekend’s developments, the former transport deputy mayor for London having taken the top transport job in the government following Louise Haigh’s shock resignation in November over a decade-old phone fraud offence.
39 thoughts on “Sacked health minister hoped cyclist asking for more cycle lanes would be “mown down by an HGV” in “disgraceful” WhatsApp messages”
Yet it will only be the anti
Yet it will only be the anti-semitism comments that might lead to criminal investigation against him.
Because it is the only thing
Because it is the only thing that might constitute a crime.
the little onion wrote:
What about the other racist comments?
Steve K wrote:
Didn’t know about them – I expect them to be treated the same. The point was that as far as I can tell, the rest of the stuff is just tasteless, prejudiced and stupid, not actually criminal.
I should add I don’t know on
I should add I don’t know on what basis Muddy Ford was assuming that only the anti-semitism would lead to criminal investigations. I hope that in itself anti-semitic comment.
Not condoning anything, but
Not condoning anything, but is it criminal to say something in private, even if saying that thing in public would be?
(Edit, it seems the answer to my question is yes it is)
The guy should be sacked for
The guy should be sacked for stupidity and incompetence in his job. A politician slagging off his constituents on the record is like doing a Gerald Ratner.
Sriracha wrote:
If that became a precedent there would certainly be no more debate about the cost of refurbishing the Houses of Parliament, we could move the whole shooting match into a telephone booth.
Sriracha wrote:
The point was he thought it was not on the record, but in private. Trouble was, someone who had access to the chat and had an axe to grind against him for another reason leaked it.
(To be clear, I am in no way defending him.)
Steve K wrote:
The point was he thought it was not on the record, but in private. Trouble was, someone who had access to the chat and had an axe to grind against him for another reason leaked it.
(To be clear, I am in no way defending him.)— Sriracha
I’m not sure that a politician discussing his contituents (or anything else) with other politicians should be off the record. It should all be subject to FOI requests, surely?
It should all be subject to
It should all be subject to FOI requests, surely?
Which wouldn’t reveal the requested information because…something, something GDPR- as the Met. recently showed
Wow! Makes you wonder about
Wow! Makes you wonder about labour’s selection process for potential MPs. Seems like a thoroughly nasty piece of work, with the kind of behaviour I’d expect from a tory, suffering from extreme hubris.
What a piece of sh1t.
What a piece of sh1t.
No no no this cant be correct
No no no this cant be correct only Conservatives are bad.
Robert Maxwell disproved that
Robert Maxwell disproved that some time ago.
The difference is that the
The difference is that the Labour Party has actually done something about it by booting him out. If he’d been a Tory, the twat would have been promoted.
I doubt that the comments
I doubt that the comments ,and fantasies, of Gwynne are unusual in government circles ; or generally for that matter. What these comments ,made in a WhatsApp group, and , totally unchallenged according to reports show , is that cyclists are hated by the establishment at large. From police not following up on close-passes , robberies and thefts of bikes , to our politicians making nasty , mean , miserable comments . Would it be too much to ask that cyclists and other groups not be treat as an aggregate but instead be shown the kindness that an individual should receive. The former is the way of the fascist the latter the human.
It’s possible to be a decent
It’s possible to be a decent human being and run a business with integrity, doing the right thing by your customers because you know it’s the right thing to do … and also make jokes about how you’d like to feed them feet-first into a meat-grinder when you’re hamming your job up a bit down the pub with your mates.
This guy’s crime was to be stupid enough to joke about his constituents on a Whatsapp group. It was inevitable that someone would think “this doesn’t look good” and press the button.
What he should have done is wait until he’d retired and got paid to tell his jokes after dinner at corporate events. As a Labour MP he could carry it off as Carr-esque humour, a Conservative MP using that material would probably sound more like a call to arms …
There’s a problem with doing
There’s a problem with doing that when your “business” is literally selling yourself – as someone who will make decisions / knows what’s good for other better than them!
I’m quite happy with the (relative) hypocrisy of having higher standards the higher up the pole you get. Yeah, you may work harder (but perhaps that’s part of your personality anyway). But you absolutely get higher perks / generally less hassle from the law etc.
Guess it depends on how you feel about the feedback between things we talk about, our attitudes and our actions. Is it just “letting off steam / gallows humour”? Sometimes perhaps … Correlation is not causation, but it seems we’re a bit more aware of e.g. police joking about raping people and – who would think – them actually doing so…
Or, as former MP Matthew
Or, as former MP Matthew Parris did, get a newspaper column and advocate cyclist murder, and defend it as ironic humour
Your ‘decent human being’
Your ‘decent human being’ certainly isn’t my decent human being.
Racism, disregard for traffic victims, sexism etc. are not suddenly okay because ‘it was a joke’. It absolutely says something about your character and morals if you think those things are funny to begin with.
Presumably the days of
Presumably the days of “pretending to be impartial and care about everyone” are declining now, if not right out of fashion?
I think the “I will work to represent the best interests of all my constituents” is at best an ideal. Even with impossibly public-spirited, selfless and wise politicians (how would they get elected?) some people may lose out in some ways from any given change. And (perhaps worse!) some will benefit more that others. However … for my philosophy it’s probably an ideal worth trying to hold our representatives to, more or less.
chrisonabike wrote:
Definitely. Imagine all those people in Clacton who imagined that Farage (as an example, I know he’s not who we’re talking about on this occasion) would actually act like an MP and engage with his constituents once so elected…
Are the Labour Party and the
Are the Labour Party and the government institutionally anti-cyclist?
Ps I would be interested to
Ps I would be interested to know if any of his constituents HAVE been mowed down by a HGV, and what his comments were at the time
The party matters, but not so
The party matters, but not so much as you’d think. What matters more is whether they are in Govt or in opposition, IMO…
brooksby wrote:
Except Labour were in opposition at the time.
Steve K wrote:
OK, good point 🙁
“Badly misjudged”? That’s no
“Badly misjudged”? That’s no apology.
I hope Mr Gwynne will be
I hope Mr Gwynne will be meeting the cyclist in question, along with other victims of his comments, to apologise in person and have a serious discussion about the points they were raising……. or is he not that sorry.
And ride a bike around every
And ride a bike around every major road in his constituency, during rush hour.
He’s sorry he might have
He’s sorry he might have caused offence, i.e., not sorry about being offensive.
levestane wrote:
AKA the Matthew Paris defence “I’m sorry you haven’t got a sense of humour.”
Well, it seems that Mr Gwynne
Well, it seems that Mr Gwynne’s constituents HAVE been mowed down and killed whilst cycling.
https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/greater-manchester/news/news/2021/may/a-cyclist-has-sadly-died-following-a-collision-in-gorton/
The quality of politicians is
The quality of politicians is very low at times, these days. It really is depressing.
Am I alone in thinking that many people that enter politics, only do so because that are hopeless at everything else?
This is what happens when
This is what happens when voters stop scrutinising what their prospective MP has achieved in life and blindly vote on party lines.
Gwynne and many of his colleagues have spent most or all of their lives doing nothing but politics. They bring precisely nothing to their parliamentary careers other than experience of playing silly politcal games.
I’m fairly sure this nasty
I’m fairly sure this nasty idiot was simply putting in text what the majority of politicians think about their constituents. I don’t think politicians care for anything other than their careers.
Well the entry-level
Well the entry-level requirement of their job is that they persuade everyone * they’re great. Or at least better than the other options…
Of course that may be done by simply wearing the correct colour of rosette, or kissing the biggest local frog.
They only have to do that occasionally of course – but it pays not to be too blatant about the con the rest of the time, as shown here.
You might of course be playing a very earnest and public-spirited game – but the rules don’t require it!
* Well, the largest fraction of the people who bothered to vote, which in turn isn’t all the people or even necessarily the majority.
What a disgusting comment.
What a disgusting comment. Perhaps he should have to meet with the families of some victims of poor driving.