The encrypted messaging service is popular for work and play. But as Andrew Gwynne and many others have discovered: beware the leaks

There’s a familiar pattern in Westminster these days. An MP writes in haste a message to colleagues on WhatsApp. The contents leak to the press. Then there’s embarrassment, a public ticking off or – if really bad – the sack. The Labour MP Andrew Gwynne is the latest to experience this. Keir Starmer’s health minister was sacked and had the whip suspended after the Mail on Sunday revealed a secret WhatsApp group by the name of “Trigger me Timbers”.

In messages published by the Mail, Gwynne is alleged to have penned a “joke” reply to a 72-year-old-constituent that read: “Dear resident, Fuck your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs.” There’s more too – with Gwynne accused of making sexist comments about the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and racist comments about the Labour veteran Diane Abbott. Naturally, others in the group are now also under suspicion. Despite a hasty apology from the 29-year-old 2024 intaker Oliver Ryan for “not speaking out at the time”, the Labour MP for Burnley has had the whip suspended after the party’s investigation. “How stupid can you get?” asks a member of the new intake.