Trigger Me Timbers councillors found in breach of council code of conduct

The former leader of Tameside council claimed she was a victim of a ‘malicious political attack’ as she was found in breach of the council’s code of conduct.

Coun Brenda Warrington was alone as she and five other councillors were put under the microscope by the standards sub committee hearing for their contributions in the infamous ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ WhatsApp chat.

The scandal rocked Greater Manchester in February 2025, with group members made up of Labour councillors, Labour 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.

Independent investigator Linda Comstive supplied evidence and gave findings of breaches by Coun Warrington as well as councillors Allison Gwynne, Jack Naylor, George Newton, George Jones and former councillor Claire Reid.

Ms Comstive’s 94-page investigation report was prompted following complaints against the councillors regarding the Trigger Me Timbers’ WhatsApp chat. According to the report, the complainants say comments include ‘racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, hate speech and even threats of violence towards constituents including death’.

The large proportion of the hearing was taken up by Coun Warrington giving her defence to the complaints made against her. Armed with files of notes in Dukinfield Town Hall, the ex council leader described the complaints made against her as ‘politically motivated’ and that she had been ‘vilified’.

In her barrage of defence that lasted almost two hours, she took aim at the investigation process – claiming proper procedure had not been followed. Coun Warrington went on to describe some of her contributions to the WhatsApp group as ‘tongue in cheek’ and that some were jokes. 

Coun Warrington provided 1,570 lines of chat in the WhatsApp group, the hearing on February 3 was told. This included jibes comparing unnamed members of the Labour group to serial killers Fred and Rose West as well as calling a child an ‘idiot’ and who ‘needs his backside slapping’.

At the hearing, Coun Warrington said: “It’s regrettable that some people have been hurt and upset by this. It’s wrong and it was never intended.

“I don’t accept that I can be held responsible for comments made by other people. I apologise unreservedly for anyone upset caused by any comment I made in the chat.”

Coun Warrington did stick to her guns on points that she didn’t know the council-funded phone used in the chat was not paid for by her. She also maintained that the chat was private, suggesting those that leaked it hold responsibility for the upset caused as well. 

Ms Comstive told the meeting how this did not matter because it was leaked and that elected members had a duty to the council code of conduct to be upstanding citizens in all factors of life.

Councillors George Newton and George Jones were the only others to engage with the investigation process and apologised via interview with Ms Comstive, but they didn’t attend the committee hearing. Coun Jones was seen as the most junior member of the chat, so deemed by the panel as having the least responsibility to call out the ‘disgusting’ behaviour, the meeting was told.

After almost two hours of deliberation, all the councillors were found to be in breach of the local authority’s code of conduct by the panel, chaired by Coun Joe Kitchen.

All five active councillors – except George Jones – have been censured (formal disapproval read out in full council), stripped of their committee roles and are to receive training on the council code of conduct.

Coun Jones will only be censured as a punishment. He was seen as the least culpable of the group, being the most junior politician and having contributed the least to the chat.

Upon delivering the verdict, Coun Kitchen said: “We are appalled, shocked and disgusted by the contents of that WhatsApp group. We are disappointed that senior councillors did not call it out.”

Coun Kitchen went on to say that if the government gave them powers to suspend councillors from duty, it is something they would have considered in this case.