Casual nature of sacked Labour minister’s outrageous comments will worry Starmer after his battle to change party
Andrew Gwynne was sacked after comments he made in a WhatsApp group were
uncovered by the Mail on Sunday. A minister has suggested action could be taken
against others in the group.
Political correspondent @amandaakass [http://twitter.com/@amandaakass]
Sunday 9 February 2025 14:35, UK
Labour have waited 14 years to get back into government. Now, after just seven
months in power, three ministers have already been brought down by scandal.
Publishing just one of the outrageous comments Andrew Gwynne posted in the
“Trigger Me Timbers” WhatsApp group is likely to have been enough to bring his
ministerial career to an abrupt end.
But the combination of messages exposed by the Mail on Sunday – from describing
a man as “too Jewish and too militaristic”, wishing a 72-year-old non-Labour
[https://news.sky.com/topic/labour-5700] voter would “croak” before the next
local election, to suggesting that Diane Abbott MP was taking to the despatch
box at PMQs “because it’s black history month” – makes for sickening reading.
It’s not surprising Mr Gwynne was sacked as soon as No 10 were approached for a
response.
Read more on Andrew Gwynne:
Minister sacked over WhatsApp comments
[https://news.sky.com/story/andrew-gwynne-sacked-as-health-minister-over-comments-posted-on-internal-whatsapp-group-13305272]
Comments ‘unacceptable’, minister says
[https://news.sky.com/story/minister-says-labour-mps-and-other-members-of-whatsapp-group-could-be-suspended-after-andrew-gwynne-scandal-13305918]
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The broader problem for Sir Keir Starmer is that the casual nature of Mr
Gwynne’s remarks, the fact that they were written down and shared with a wider
group of people, seems to lift the curtain on an ecosystem in which both
constituents and senior female party colleagues were treated with open contempt.
For the prime minister, who made tackling antisemitism such a defining feature
of his leadership of the party, the casual antisemitism in these comments will
be especially alarming.
Alex Burghart MP, speaking for the Conservatives this morning as shadow
chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, described the remarks as “sinister”,
claiming that “it really does suggest that just beneath the surface, between all
the sort of the window dressing that Sir Keir Starmer has done, that with senior
Labour politicians there may still be a very serious problem with antisemitism”.
He also criticised the apparent failure of other members of the group to
challenge or report those comments at the time, and urged the Labour Party to
investigate.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook confirmed that that was the case, telling
Trevor Phillips [https://news.sky.com/sunday-morning-with-trevor-phillips]
“there’s an investigation taking place into the whole incident” and insisting Mr
Gwynne’s language was “completely unacceptable, and in some instances, deeply
concerning”.
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Mr Pennycook repeatedly made the point that the prime minister had “acted
decisively” to sack Andrew Gwynne and suspend him from the party, claiming “I
don’t think anyone can be in any doubt about this prime minister and this
government’s commitment to upholding the highest standards in public office and
to rooting out antisemitism from the Labour Party, root and branch”.
It looks like many of these messages date back to the years before Sir Keir
became leader of the party. But for a prime minister who promised “a return to
the politics of public service” the questions raised by the attitude of a
minister he appointed to public office won’t go away.
