MP who was suspended over vile WhatsApp group ’embarrassingly’ admits he edited a photo to make it look like he’d gone to Armed Forces Day

An MP who was suspended over a vile WhatsApp group has ’embarrassingly’ admitted he edited a photo to make it look like he attended Armed Forces Day. 

Andrew Gwynne, the member for Gorton and Denton, Greater Manchester, was exposed for his racist and sexist comments by The Mail on Sunday in February.   

The former public health minister’s remarks in the chat called Trigger Me Timbers included a vile post saying he hoped a pensioner who did not vote Labour would die before the next election.

The MP, who apologised for his ‘badly misjudged comments’, is now under investigation by the Commons’ standards watchdog over potentially ‘causing significant damage to the reputation of the House’. 

When this newspaper revealed the messages in February, Mr Gwynne was sacked as a health minister and ‘administratively suspended’ by the Labour party immediately. 

And now, he has posted an image purporting to be of him at Armed Forces Day celebrations in his home town of Denton on Saturday, June 28.

But members of the public quickly noticed his pose and attire were the exact same as a shot of him on the other side of his constituency, in Levenshulme, the day before. 

Mr Gwynne has since apologised: ‘It [was] just a simple mistake. As soon as I saw it had been posted I removed it.

‘I had forwarded 15 images taken by my son to my office, who do my social media posts.

‘I don’t look at social media anymore as it’s not good for my mental ill health which I’m really struggling with right now.

‘I do, however, do the infographics that go up as no-one else can use Canva since Tim [Hammersley-Rich, his former senior researcher] left.

‘I had intended [to do] a covering photo apologising for not being in attendance and this is the early saved part of that from Canva, which must have saved to my camera roll and I forwarded it with the rest.

‘In the end, I just thought it best to have pics from the day without an explanation which is what’s up.

‘A simple, honest mistake rectified very quickly and just a little bit embarrassing.’

Mr Gwynne’s constituency office stands besides Denton’s Victoria Park, where the event to celebrate and honour service men and women took place. 

But it has also been the scene of demonstrations calling for the resignation of the MP, who since his suspension has served as an independent candidate.

The face of his Tameside borough councillor wife Allison Gwynne, who is also suspended over the WhatsApp scandal, has been scrawled over on information posters.

And Tony Moran, a Labour Party member of 56 years who has worked alongside Mr Gwynne in Denton, told of his feelings on the controversy. 

The chair of the town’s Victoria Park Community Centre aid: ‘This has cut deep. If he thinks he’s coming back, he must be deluded, because he’s toxic now as an MP.

‘Nobody will vote for him now. He was laughing at people behind their backs. 

‘People have been upset and felt betrayed because some of the comments are about some of the people he’s supposed to be representing.

‘And if I saw him, I’d say, “Hang your head in shame”.

‘What Andrew’s done, though, is he’s created a cult and if you’re not in that cult, he doesn’t answer you.

‘Sometimes you have to have a s*** sandwich and you have to deal with it. But no. He’s very immature. He’s passionate about being liked, he doesn’t like rejection.

‘Everybody in life goes through a dark patch, don’t they? If he’s saying, “I’m mentally ill”, I’d be the first to say, “Right, how can we help you? What can we do?”‘

‘If he’s using it as a card, it’s too big an issue.’

Mr Gwynne is not the first Tameside MP to be caught up in a row over using doctored images.

In 2007, then Stalybridge and Hyde representative James Purnell faced controversy over a picture purporting to show him at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne. 

The snap also featured other MPs, including a young Mr Gwynne, who has served as a member in the area since 2005. 

But in fact, Mr Purcell’s image was actually inserted into the photograph – as he had not shown up to the photo call on time.

The hospital said in a statement: ‘As we would not be able to stage a repeat of this historic day for the hospital, we decided to take a photograph of Mr Purnell in the same spot very shortly after, and merge it with the earlier photograph, to which Mr Purnell kindly consented.

‘We apologise if anyone feels misled.’

But his office said at the time: ‘It is not as if he was never there. In no way did James say, “Just add me in so it looks like I was there”.’

Mr Gwynne was stripped of his job as health minister and had his membership of the Labour Party suspended by Sir Keir Starmer when he was told by The Mail on Sunday about vile WhatsApp messages the MP had sent. 

A Government spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister is determined to uphold high standards of conduct in public office. He will not hesitate to take action against any Minister who fails to meet these standards, as he has in this case.’

In one particularly shocking comment, the Gorton and Denton MP said he hoped a 72-year-old woman would soon be dead after she dared to ask about her bins. 

He also made anti-Semitic slights and ‘jokes’ about a constituent being ‘mown down’ by a truck in the leaked messages from the local group chat called Trigger Me Timbers.

The Stockport resident wrote to her local councillor saying she hadn’t voted Labour, but added: ‘As you have been re-elected I thought it would be an appropriate time to contact you with regard to the bin collections.’ 

After the councillor shared the letter among fellow Labour figures in the WhatsApp group, Mr Gwynne wrote a suggested response: ‘Dear resident, F*** your bins. 

‘I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs.’ 

‘All-outs’ are elections at which every council seat is contested at once.

Accepting his fate after The Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed his vile messages, Mr Gwynne wrote on social media: ‘I deeply regret my badly misjudged commments 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.’

The messages were exchanged in a group called Trigger Me Timbers, which Mr Gwynne shares with more than a dozen Labour councillors, party officials and at least one other MP, all based on the outskirts of Manchester.

The MoS gained access to thousands of messages from the closed group, which was set up in 2019, and discovered a barrage of abusive texts. Among them are:

• Mr Gwynne saying someone ‘sounds too Jewish’ and ‘too militaristic’, apparently from their name alone; 
• Racist comments about veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott, mocking her historic achievement in becoming the first black MP at either Despatch Box for Prime Minister’s Questions;
• Sexist comments about Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner performing a sex act;
• Mr Gwynne mocking a local Labour leader as ‘Colin C*mface’. 

Shortly after, a second MP was suspended by Labour over their membership of the vile WhatsApp group.

Oliver Ryan, the 29-year-old Burnley MP, lost the Labour whip in Parliament and now sits as an independent in the House of Commons.

It comes after the former councillor was investigated over comments in the WhatsApp group.

Police confirmed they had received complaints about the WhatsApp messages and had recorded a non-crime hate incident while making ‘initial inquiries’.

In the private chat, Mr Ryan took part with others in apparently homophobic banter as they joked about a fellow Labour MP being gay.

In a series of posts, Mr Ryan also made cruel remarks about a local Labour leader and life-long lollipop man in Greater Manchester called Colin Bailey.

A Labour spokesman said: ‘As part of our WhatsApp group investigation, Oliver Ryan has been administratively suspended as a member of the Labour Party.

‘As soon as this group was brought to our attention, a thorough investigation was immediately launched and this process is ongoing in line with the Labour Party’s rules and procedures.

‘Swift action will always be taken where individuals are found to have breached the high standards expected of them as Labour Party members.’

The Tories at the time demanded Sir Keir Starmer now expel both Mr Ryan and Mr Gywnne from Labour and ‘show some leadership’.

But a senior Labour figure earlier dodged on whether those MPs involved in the WhatsApp group should be kicked out of the party for good.

Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle condemned the messages exchanged in the group – but insisted ‘anyone can make mistakes’.

It was claimed earlier this month Labour had privately urged Mr Gwynne not to resign – for fears of losing another by-election to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. 

Sources said the former health minister, who now serves as an Independent MP, was facing appeals from party officials at national and local level not to resign and trigger a by-election in his Gorton and Denton seat.   

They said Labour was ‘scared stiff’ that if he stood down, it would hand Mr Farage another by-election triumph akin to Reform’s shock victory in Runcorn and Helsby last month. 

But local Labour officials are also said to be worried snatching Mr Gwynne’s Greater Manchester seat would give Reform a platform to oust nearby Labour big-hitters Deputy PM Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds at the next general election.

The claims came after Sir Keir made clear he now considered Reform to be Labour’s main enemy, saying the Tory party was ‘sliding into the abyss’.

In the Runcorn and Helsby contest, Mr Farage’s party overturned a 14,696 Labour majority. 

With a 13,413 majority, Mr Gwynne’s seat looks to be even more vulnerable.

One insider predicted: ‘With Reform riding high in the polls, there’d be only one winner if Gwynne resigned from the Commons and that’d be the candidate Nigel Farage picked to stand. 

‘There’s no way Labour would hold it – they’re scared still of Reform.’

The 72-year-old from Stockport who Mr Gwynne insulted said she was angry he had not stood down yet. 

She added:: ‘If he wants to resign, Labour should allow it. I know Reform has won a seat, and they don’t want to lose another.’

But one Labour MP dismissed the idea the party wanted Mr Gywnne to stay on, stressing the strong action it had taken when his offensive messages were revealed. 

Mr Gwynne declined to comment on claims he had been urged not to resign.