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Leila Nathoo
Political correspondent
HMC
Health Minister Andrew Gwynne has apologised for “badly misjudged” WhatsApp messages after he was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer.
The MP for Gorton and Denton was also suspended from the Labour Party after the Mail on Sunday reported he had sent a string of offensive and abusive messages, insulting constituents, fellow MPs and councillors.
A government spokesperson said: “The prime minister is decided to uphold excessive requirements of conduct in public workplace and lead a authorities within the service of working individuals. He is not going to hesitate to take motion towards any minister who fails to satisfy these requirements, as he has on this case.”
Gwynne said on X that he understood the prime minister and Labour’s decision, and “whereas very unhappy to have been suspended, will help them in any manner I can”.
A Labour spokesperson said Gwynne has been “administratively suspended” as a party member as it investigates “feedback made on this WhatsApp group in keeping with the Labour Party’s guidelines and procedures”.
“Swift motion shall be taken if people are discovered to have breached the excessive requirements anticipated of them as Labour Party members,” the spokesperson added.
In one instance reported by the Mail on Sunday, Gwynne allegedly said he hoped a 72-year-old woman would soon be dead, after she wrote to a local councillor about bin collections.
The councillor is alleged to have shared the girl’s letter in a WhatsApp group containing Labour figures, which is the place Gwynne wrote his response.
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