Labour is facing increasing pressure to sack a second MP over their involvement in a "vile" WhatsApp group chat which shared "sexist and racist messages".
Ex health minister Andrew Gwynne was axed from the Government after online messages were exposed yesterday - with one post saying that he hoped one of his elderly constituents who did not vote Labour would die by the next election.
MP for Gorton and Denton Andrew Gwynne had his party membership suspended when further "antisemitic" comments came to light, along with "jokes" about a constituent getting "mown down" by a truck.
The comments were posted in a group filled with more than a dozen Labour councillors, party officials and - at least - one other MP.
MP for Gorton and Denton Andrew Gwynne had his party membership suspended when further "antisemitic" comments came to light
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The Government is now facing calls to take action against the other MP linked to same WhatsApp group, The Daily Mail reports.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook dodged questioning this morning on whether any other members of those in the group chat would be reprimanded.
Speaking on GB News, he said: "The Prime Minister has acted very decisively to ensure that's the case and that he was dismissed as a minister, because we're very clear, those comments are completely unacceptable, but I'm not going to speculate on his future standing, whether he stands any of those other hypotheticals while that live investigation is taking place."
Asked if he would resign if he was Andrew Gwynne, Pennycook said: "It's a completely hypothetical [question]. I'm not Andrew Gwynne… I don't think it is appropriate while there's an ongoing live investigation to speculate on hypotheticals as what might happen to Andrew Gwynne."
Gwynne has since apologised for making the "badly misjudged comments".
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According to the leaked messages, a Stockport woman reached out to her local councillor to say: "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 with the group chat - called Trigger Me Timbers - Gwynne wrote: "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."
After his messages were exposed, Gwynne took to social media, writing: "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."
Alex Burghart expressed his outrage at the scandal surrounding former health minister Andrew Gwynne
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Shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart said that the message about Gwynne's constituent was a "nasty attempt to do down an old person" and "reflects the attitude that the Labour Party seems to have to elderly voters generally".
The group chat held thousands of messages - first created in 2019 - included Gwynne saying that someone's name "sounded too Jewish".
He is also believed to have made racist comments about Mother of the House Diane Abbott, ridiculing her achievement of becoming the first black MP at either Despatch Box in the House of Commons during Prime Minister's Questions.
The group also partook in sexist commentary about Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
The former minister got involved in politics from the age of 21 when he became England's youngest councillor. He later was elected to the House of Commons in 2005 and, after almost twenty years, became a Government minister for public health.
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