The resignation that could change Greater Manchester forever

February 8, 2025: A Saturday night that changed Tameside politics forever, and one that could still reshape the future of Greater Manchester for years.

A chilly, wintry day made way for an explosive evening. Reports emerged of a WhatsApp group, where antisemitic comments shared, and jokes made about, among other things, the death of a pensioner.

The name of the group, people would come to know all-too-well: Trigger Me Timbers. In it, was Labour MP for Gorton and Denton Andrew Gwynne.

Within hours, he had been sacked as a junior health minister and issued an apology for ‘misjudged’ messages. In the following days, more than a dozen councillors and MPs would be suspended from the Labour Party.

Just months later, several had been permanently expelled.

And within a year, the scandal has brought Gwynne’s 21-year-long career as an MP to a close.

Announcing his resignation on Thursday (January 22), he said: “It has been the honour of my life to have been an elected representative for almost exactly three decades, representing my home community firstly as a Denton West councillor on Tameside Council and then in the House of Commons as MP for Denton and Reddish and more recently for Gorton and Denton.

“Over those years I haven’t got everything right and I’ve certainly made mistakes, but I’ve always tried my very best and I have helped tens of thousands of constituents with their issues along the way. Indeed it’s been helping people that’s given me the greatest pleasure in these jobs.”

Gwynne also shared medical advice which urged him not to ‘return to work as an MP’. He asked to be ‘left in peace’ to recover.

His resignation means Greater Manchester will have a by-election ‘soon’, possibly on May 7 – when local elections take place across the UK.

Greater Manchester is due a new MP. And rumours suggest a familiar face might make his return to Westminster: Mayor Andy Burnham.

But to understand how likely such a shake-up is, it’s best to rewind.

The WhatsApp chat that rocked British politics

Trigger Me Timbers was created before the Covid-19 pandemic – for Gwynne, and the councillors representing wards in his old Denton and Reddish seat. It was meant to be ‘mundane’, a way for councillors and the MP to co-ordinate campaigns.

But leaked messages showed it was anything but. It is alleged Gwynne made antisemitic remarks and joked about a pensioner dying before an election after she raised concerns about bin collections.

Within hours of the leak, Gwynne apologised, having been sacked as a government minister. His statement said: “I deeply regret my badly misjudged comments and apologise for any offense I’ve caused. I’ve served the Labour Party all my life and it was a huge honour to be appointed a minister by Keir Starmer.”

He was suspended from the Labour Party, along with ex-Tameside councillor, now Burnley MP Oliver Ryan and 11 councillors.

Six months of investigations later, some, including Mr Ryan and the MP’s wife Coun Allison Gwynne, were reinstated. But others were expelled in August, like Tameside councillors Jack Naylor and George Newton, plus ex-Stockport Labour leader Coun Andrew Verdeille.

The rumours that haven’t stopped

But in the background, something else was happening. In August of the same year, Andy Burnham’s name kept being mentioned when people talked about the floundering Prime Minister.

At the time, Keir Starmer’s government was seven points behind Reform UK in the polls, only 13 months after a landslide election win. Labour’s 2024 slogan was ‘change’, but frustrated voters felt that wasn’t what they were seeing.

Talk within the party grew that change in Downing Street was necessary. Burnham did nothing to quell those rumours by not ruling out he’d like to be the Prime Minister, only saying he was ‘committed’ to being Greater Manchester mayor.

By September, the rumour mill upgraded to a factory of speculation after Burnham gave successive interviews which revealed MPs contacted him about a potential leadership bid. That led to a media circus following Burnham around Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

Government briefings against the mayor on his economic thinking then followed, dampening his ambitions to the point where he said Starmer was the right man to lead Labour.

By the time Burnham avoided going to the PM’s speech on the conference’s final day, it felt like he was returning to Manchester with his tail between his legs.

And yet, those rumours did not stop.

The resignation that could change Greater Manchester forever

Speculation preceded Gwynne’s decision to resign on Thursday (January 22). It is alleged he recently reached a deal with the House of Commons that would allow him to retire on medical grounds and receive his pension.

Still, the mayor remained tight-lipped on his own future: “I’ve had no contact on this issue with Andrew or anyone close to him. I know him of old, of course, but I’m as in the dark about this as anyone.

“People shouldn’t rush to conclusions. I have been very focused on my role as Mayor of Greater Manchester and I think the [reindustrialisation] plan I put out this week shows that.”

Although the mayor is now looking at a vacant seat in the region he’s represented for his entire career, his path to the top remains tricky.

Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) ‘will set out the process in the usual way, as it always does for by-elections’, according to Starmer.

That means Burnham will likely need the NEC’s written permission to stand in the by-election, required because the law says he will need to resign as mayor to sit in Parliament, which would trigger a costly mayoral election.

The NEC, currently composed of Starmer supporters, also has the power to impose an all-female shortlist for the seat, which would block Burnham’s bid.

But if Burnham secured written permission and made it onto an open shortlist, he needs to win the support of the local party. Party members would not be drawn if they would support Burnham’s bid when asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

What next?

At the time of writing, Burnham had not jumped in or ruled out standing for the Gorton and Denton seat. But if he goes for it, it represents a seismic shift for Greater Manchester.

Burnham has championed the Bee Network, £1b Good Growth Fund, Greater Manchester Baccalaureate and ‘Manchesterism’ industrial strategy which all 10 councils, major businesses, schools, colleges, and public services have signed up to.

A new top dog could scrap any of those, or turbo-charge all of them. We just don’t know.

What we do know is Gorton and Denton needs a new MP.