A grandmother at the centre of the “hopes she croaks it’ scandal says disgraced Labour MP Andrew Gwynne has shown nothing but “contempt” for the elderly.
The pensioner, 76, also demanded a personal apology from Gwynne who was sacked from his ministerial role after a series of offensive comments came to light earlier this month.
Gwynne, 50, whose Labour membership was also suspended, posted the messages to party colleagues in a private WhatsApp group.
In one comment he said he hoped the retired school administrator, who didn’t vote for Labour, would die before the next election.
The son of late sports commentator John Gwynne also posted racist and sexist messages and joked about a cycling campaigner, who lives in his Gorton and Denton constituency, being “mown down” by a truck.
Gwynne’s comment about the grandmother came after she sent a letter to Labour councillor David Sedgwick complaining about bin collections in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
Sedgwick shared part of the letter – in which the pensioner said she didn’t voting for him – on the “Trigger Me Timbers” WhatsApp group and asked for any reactions.
Gwynne posted: “Dear resident. F*** your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. Dave.”
He added: “P.S. Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs.”
The phrase “all-outs” is a reference to council elections when every seat is up for grabs.
PM Sir Keir Starmer sacked Mr Gwynne from his post as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention following publication of the comments.
Labour MP for Burnley Oliver Ryan, 29, and 11 Labour councillors were also suspended over thousands of messages in the group dating from 2019 to 2022.
The Tory voting grandmother explained that she had written to Mr Sedgwick because her daughter, who also lives in Stockport, had “recommended” him as “someone who had helped over her bins”
She says pensioners would find Mr Gwynne’s comment offensive.
The grandmother, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “‘You begin to wonder how that filters through to how he behaves in other things like voting, such as how he voted over the winter fuel allowance.
“It shows his contempt for older people.”
She said MPs in government had a responsibility to follow “higher standards” and must be more careful what they say, even in a private WhatsApp group.
She also questioned why her letter was posted to the group by Mr Sedgwick in 2021.
“I cannot think what he was thinking of,” she added.
The grandmother also branded Mr Gwynne a “hypocrite” for speaking in Parliament in support of elderly women who had campaigned for compensation after being affected by increases to the state pension age at around the time he made his offensive comment about her.
She said: “He was showing contempt for older people [in the messages] but then he’s showing another face somewhere else – so it’s a bit two-faced isn’t it?”
The grandmother also blasted Mr Gwynne over his comments about Labour MP Diane Abbott, Deputy Leader Angela Rayner and a man he labelled “too Jewish”.
She has called on Mr Gwynne, Mr Sedgwick and Stockport Council to apologise to her.
She added: “He’s not showing a good attitude to his colleagues or his constituents.”
Her husband, 75, said Mr Gwynne had shown a “lack of judgment”, and added: “An MP should have standards to abide by.”
Labour has launched an investigation into the WhatsApp group.
After he was sacked as a minister and suspended from the Labour Party, Mr Gwynne said:: “I deeply regret my badly misjudged comments and apologise for any offence I’ve caused.”
He added: “I entirely understand the decisions the PM and the party have taken and, while very sad to have been suspended, will support them in any way I can.”
