Second Labour MP apologises over WhatsApp comments

A second Labour MP has apologised for comments made in a WhatsApp chat, after Andrew Gwynne was sacked as a minister over messages he sent to the same group.

Burnley MP Oliver Ryan said in a statement that comments he made in the group “were completely unacceptable” and he regretted “not speaking out at the time”.

Fellow MP Gwynne was sacked as health minister on Saturday after the Mail on Sunday reported he sent a string of offensive and abusive messages in the WhatsApp group, which contained other Labour figures.

A government source told the PA news agency that the party’s chief whip would speak to Ryan “and no action is off the table”.

“I did not see every message, but I accept responsibility for not being more proactive in challenging what was said,” Ryan added.

“I also made some comments myself which I deeply regret and would not make today and for that, I wholeheartedly apologise.”

He said would cooperate fully with Labour’s investigation, which began after Gwynne’s messages were revealed.

Gwynne was suspended from the party and apologised in a statement on X for any offence caused by the “badly misjudged” comments.

Ryan, 29, said he was a member of the WhatsApp group between 2019 and early 2022, when he was a councillor on Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. He was elected for the first time as an MP in July.

“Some of the comments made in that group were completely unacceptable, and I fully condemn them,” he added.

“I regret not speaking out at the time, and I recognise that failing to do so was wrong.”