He made the comments in a WhatsApp group for Labour Party figures in his area.
In a statement on Saturday night, he said “I deeply regret my badly misjudged comments” and apologised for any offence caused.
Among the worst of the comments reportedly made was a response to a letter from a 72-year-old resident who told her councillor she had not voted Labour but wanted to inquire about bin collections.
The resident wrote: “As you have been re-elected, I thought it would be an appropriate time to contact you with regard to the bin collections.”
When the councillor shared the letter in the group chat, Gwynne proposed the following 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” is a shorthand term for local elections.
The Mail on Sunday reported that he also fantasised about a local constituent being mown down on his bicycle by a heavy goods lorry, writing: “I had positive visions of him getting mown down by an Elsa Waste HGV while he’s cycling to the Fallowfield Loop. We couldn’t be that lucky!”
Mockery of Jewish name
He appeared to mock the Jewish surname of one public figure. When other members of the chat asked if Marshall Rosenberg, a conflict resolution expert, would be present at a local Labour Party meeting, Gwynne reportedly said: “No. He sounds too militaristic and too Jewish. Is he in Mossad?”
The Gorton and Denton MP shared the message in a group chat that included at least one fellow Labour MP and a number of the party’s councillors from the Greater Manchester area.
According to reports, Gwynne also shared lewd jokes about UK Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
In 2021, he circulated a tweet that mocked Rayner for claiming wireless headphones on expenses.
The tweet read: “I don’t see what the problem is. It’s literally impossible to give a blow*** while wearing wired headphones. Anyone with a similar background to Angela would understand this.”
He also appeared to mock veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott in the WhatsApp group. In October 2019, when Abbott became the first black person to stand at the despatch box during Prime Minister’s Questions, he reportedly told the chat it was “because it’s Black History Month apparently”.
At the time, he was serving in Labour’s shadow cabinet with Abbott.
Gwynne, who became an MP in 2005, has been stripped of his ministerial job and suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation.
He is the third Labour minister to stand down in disgrace in recent months. In late November, Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary at the time, stepped down after a fraud conviction came to light. In January, Anti-Corruption Minister Tulip Siddiq resigned following allegations of misconduct, which she has repeatedly denied.
A government spokesman 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.
“Andrew Gwynne has been administratively suspended as a member of the Labour Party. 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.”
