Six councillors found to have breached code of conduct in independent report

Six councillors embroiled in the Trigger Me Timbers scandal have been found in breach of Tameside council’s code of conduct, according to an independent report.

The ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ WhatsApp sparked fury nationally, thrusting the Greater Manchester area into the limelight in February last year. The group was made up of Labour councillors, members and activists from Denton and Reddish, as well as MPs Andrew Gwynne and Oliver Ryan. 

The group chat contained a number of offensive messages and resulted in the suspension of a string of politicians.

Six Tameside councillors who participated in the WhatsApp group have all been subject to an investigation for alleged breaches of the local authority’s code of conduct.

The investigation from independent investigator Linda Comstive found evidence of breaches by councillors Allison Gwynne, Brenda Warrington, Jack Naylor, George Newton and George Jones, as well as former councillor Claire Reid.

Her 94-page report details the complaints, extracts from the WhatsApp chat, responses from interviews with four out of six of the councillors and her findings.

The complainants, who include Phil Foster, Coun Kallel Khan and Gary Clarke, all make reference to messages in the chat which include ‘racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, hate speech and even threats of violence towards constituents including death’.

All of the councillors who spoke to the investigator said the WhatsApp group was a private chat, not to be seen by the public. But councillors Warrington, Newton and Jones apologised for any offence caused.

Coun Warrington was identified in the report as the most senior politician in the chat behind Andrew Gwynne, due to being the former leader of Tameside council. When asked about her contributions, which had been part-redacted in the report, Coun Warrington said some comments were ‘tongue in cheek’ or that ‘she was not the leader of this chat’. 

In response to the investigator, Coun Warrington said: “It remains to be said that it was never my intention to offend anyone, and I apologise for any comments I may have made in the chat that has resulted in upset.

“The responsibility for the offence lies with those persons who, for malicious reasons chose to leak the chat to the press.”

When pressed for his thoughts on the messages in the group chat, Coun Newton told Ms Comstive: “They are just chatter and exchanges between members of a private chat group. It was a group of friends chatting privately

“Looking at it now, I’d admit it was childish behaviour.

“I am very sorry for what I have said, but some of the jokes were my way of expressing my frustrations at the time. There are 26,000 councillors in the country – many make such jokes – we will all say and do these things.”

Coun George Jones and Claire Reid made similar remarks in terms of the WhatsApp group being private and said that they did not condone the language used. 

All six of the councillors were found to be in breach of the council’s code of conduct by the independent investigator. Ms Comstive’s findings will be discussed by the Standards Sub Committee on February 2 in Dukinfield Town Hall. 

The committee will consider the evidence, confirm whether they find any breaches of the code and take actions against those who breached the code, if necessary. 

Brenda Warrington, George Newton and George Jones all complied with the investigation and were interviewed by Ms Comstive. A whistleblower, who remained anonymous in the report, was also interviewed.

Claire Reid, who resigned as a councillor in December, responded to the questions via email. Allison Gwynne, the wife of outgoing Gorton and Denton MP Andrew Gwynne, did not engage with the process and Jack Naylor did not turn up to his interview with the independent investigator.