Breaking news: Congratulations to Andrew Gwynne who wins the ministerial sack race of 2025

I think it’s important to know if up to now he has been a good MP?

I think I’m having trouble with accepting that anyone thinks his attitudes towards ordinary people are quite understandable and acceptable.

No, it’s never an excuse but it’s an explanation.He may or may not have been.

I don’t think being drunk is an excuse. Being drunk isn’t an excuse if a drunk driver has an accident and kills someone. That person is still held responsible. Being drunk is never an excuse.

Of course we don’t know that he was drunk when he made his contempt for the electorate obvious.

Lathyrus3

He must have been drunk most of the time😬 There’s an awful lot of different texts.

I think I hold every law and policy maker to the same standards of respect for those they are representing. No double standards here.

Exactly Lathyrus3. There are as always, a few people on this thread trying to make some mileage out of the fact that he is a Labour MP, but most of us are mature enough to know that misdemeanours are not confined to one party, and have acknowledged that here and on other threads discussing suspended MPs too.

To me, if they’re so unbelievably stupid as to write such things and imagine they’ll never be found out, they’re far too stupid to be a MP anyway.

Anniebach

I didn’t know he had been an MP for 20 years ,

No I didn’t either.
Views from his constituents may be interesting?

Rula

Why would he have been drunk? But if so, isn't it always said that the truth slips out when inebriated?

Or you say things you shouldn’t? Or don’t really mean?
Have you never?

eazybee Yes I did laugh at the first line but not at the rest of it.Where do I say it’s acceptable?I think it’s human to err tho.
It doesn’t matter that I support Labour as I would feel the same if he had been Conservative or Lib Dem.

He must have been drunk most of the time😬 There’s an awful lot of different texts.

I think I hold every law and policy maker to the same standards of respect for those they are representing. No double standards here.

I didn’t know he had been an MP for 20 years ,

Why would he have been drunk? But if so, isn't it always said that the truth slips out when inebriated?

Oreo

I wonder if we all saw private emails, letters, texts from the entire HOC how shocked would we all be? Chat over dinner party tables as well.
Yes he was stupid to put it on his closed chat group, joking around in this manner will always come back to bite you.
Starmer had to act quickly especially as Labour isn’t at all popular at the minute but I don’t feel as affected by this gaffe as the rest of you.There’s been far worse behaviour by very many MP’s in my view.

Not often I agree with Oreo, but I do in this instance.

There's a big double standard involved in the comments on this thread.

FWIW I don't approve at all of his comments, either. I'm glad Starmer seems to have learned his lesson about not hanging on to ministers whose comments/actions are truly indefensible.

What comes through these excessively unpleasant, premeditated comments is an absolute contempt for the electorate and fellow MPs.

Apparently, Oreo laughed out loud at the first line, put it down to an excess of wine and thinks that as it was only intended for select (??) group of Labour councillors and MPS, not the public, there is no real problem.
^don’t take such a hard view of this mishap. True, you have to be damn careful about these things coming to light and did the MoS infiltrate the group or did one member of it decide to dob him in?
Perish the thought.

The fact that a labour supporter judges this behaviour to be acceptable, amusing even, and thinks this man should continue as an MP shows what dire straits we are in.
^

I think you would have to look at his performance as an MP and how he usually responds to concerns brought to him by his constituents Lathyrus3 , now he may have always been an awful MP ( I have no knowledge of this) or he could have been quite good or excellent, MPs vary a lot.
That’s why I’m only focusing on his behaviour ( and the fact that he may well have been drunk!)

JenniferEccles

Very well done to the Mail on Sunday for exposing this vile individual.

Surely the well done should be going to the member of the group who exposed the WhatsApp conversation, unless I’m missing something obvious?

Oreo, you seem to be mostly focused on his behaviour- putting his thoughts on a Whatsapp group.

I more worried about his attitudes towards people and the fact that he had the power to contribute to laws and policy making,
That contempt for ordinary people and their concerns could be the driving force behind decisions made by those in Government.

Very well done to the Mail on Sunday for exposing this vile individual.

I wonder if we all saw private emails, letters, texts from the entire HOC how shocked would we all be? Chat over dinner party tables as well.
Yes he was stupid to put it on his closed chat group, joking around in this manner will always come back to bite you.
Starmer had to act quickly especially as Labour isn’t at all popular at the minute but I don’t feel as affected by this gaffe as the rest of you.There’s been far worse behaviour by very many MP’s in my view.

Vile comments from anyone but totally unacceptable in an MP or party activist.
It’s bad enough holding these views but putting them on whatsap - senseless or so arrogant they don’t care or believe they’ll be found out.
There should be a by-election
The others in the group should be excluded

Cossy

maddyone

He should be permanently suspended from the House of Commons. People like him should not be making laws for the rest of us to obey. He sounds vile, as well as a racist, a misogynist, and ageist. He has absolutely no respect for anyone so why should anyone have any respect for him.
Can you honestly imagine how your employers would have reacted if you had behaved this way? Many people would be fired, and so he should be found unfit to represent the people and there should be a by-election and a new, more suitable MP elected.

👏👏👏🧁

I’d like to see this for all MPS who are suspended by a party, and found guilty of whatever serious misdemeanour it is, following investigation, if they are not readmitted to the whip. I also don’t think people should be allowed to serve as MPs other than specifically for the party they were elected to serve, there should always be a by election.

Interesting that a recent Prime Minister whose very similar private, and not so private, views were frequently reported, didn’t get such universal condemnation on Gnet. He was condemned, yes, but also hotly defended.

Extraordinary how so many people have discovered a moral compass in the intervening years.

FWIW, sorting out constituent’s bin collection problems shouldn’t be considered the job of an MP.

Ooops sorry no cake required 😂😂

maddyone

He should be permanently suspended from the House of Commons. People like him should not be making laws for the rest of us to obey. He sounds vile, as well as a racist, a misogynist, and ageist. He has absolutely no respect for anyone so why should anyone have any respect for him.
Can you honestly imagine how your employers would have reacted if you had behaved this way? Many people would be fired, and so he should be found unfit to represent the people and there should be a by-election and a new, more suitable MP elected.

👏👏👏🧁

LizzieDrip

What an idiot!

Absolutely should not be a Labour MP!

Or any party or in public service at all!

Horrible vile man, glad he’s got his com-uppance!