Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to take disciplinary action against a number of Labour figures after he sacked Andrew Gwynne as health minister over offensive comments shared on a WhatsApp messaging group.
The Conservatives have called on the prime minister to look into the comments of others on the WhatsApp group, called “Trigger Me Timbers”. A Labour minister confirmed on Sunday that a party investigation was under way.
The Mail on Sunday, which revealed Gwynne’s comments, said he shared the group with more than a dozen Labour councillors, party officials and at least one other MP, all based on the outskirts of Manchester.
The newspaper reported various messages sent by Gwynne, including one in which he said he hoped a pensioner who did not vote Labour would die before the next election.
It also disclosed antisemitic slights, derogatory comments about Labour colleagues and “jokes” about a constituent being “mown down’” by a truck. Gwynne did not respond to a request for further comment.
Matthew Pennycook, housing minister, told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “I don’t know, personally, what other people on that WhatsApp conversation have said.” He added: “I’m being very clear, there’s an investigation taking place into the whole incident.”
Starmer sacked Gwynne, MP for Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester, on Saturday night as soon as he became aware of the comments, a spokesperson for the prime minister said.
Gwynne, who was junior minister for public health, said he deeply regretted his “badly misjudged comments” and apologised for any offence caused.
The government 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.”
Labour 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.”
One ally of Starmer said of Gwynne’s WhatsApp exchanges: “The PM was bloody furious and appalled by it. I think everyone recognised he acted very quickly.”
Gwynne has also lost the party whip in the House of Commons.
For Starmer, who is struggling to galvanise his government, it was an unwelcome political blow. Gwynne’s comments were seized upon by the Conservatives as evidence that Labour was scornful of pensioners.
In 2018, Gwynne was disclosed to have been in a Facebook group in which antisemitic messages were shared.
At the time he responded: “I was added to this Facebook group without my knowledge or permission. I DO NOT support the posts and I ABHOR anti-Semitism.”
A 2020 report by the UK equalities watchdog into antisemitism inside Labour found that under Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer’s predecessor as leader, the party conducted “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination”.
Alex Burghart, Tory shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “This really does suggest that just beneath the surface, between all the sort of the window dressing that Keir Starmer has done, that with senior Labour politicians, there may still be a very serious problem with antisemitism.
He added: “That was a big WhatsApp group with a lot of other Labour members on. Did any of them step in at the time? Did any of them call that out?”
