A former Labour Minister who was sacked and suspended from the party over WhatsApp messages including hopes for a pensioner’s death has admitted editing photos to make it look like he attended an Armed Forces Day event.
Andrew Gwynne, who was stripped of his role as Health Minister after the content of the messages was exposed in February, has been forced to apologise after he photoshopped himself into photos taken at an Armed Forces Day event in Denton on Saturday, June 28.
Thousands of people gathered in Cleethorpes to celebrate the dedication and efforts of those who serve in the Armed Forces.
The former minister said posting the photos was a “simple mistake”, adding that he has since removed the post from social media.
He told the Mail Online: “I had forwarded 15 images taken by my son to my office, who do my social media posts.
“I don’t look at social media anymore as it’s not good for my mental ill health which I’m really struggling with right now.
“I do, however, do the infographics that go up as no-one else can use Canva since Tim [Hammersley-Rich, his former senior researcher] left.
“I had intended [to do] a covering photo apologising for not being in attendance and this is the early saved part of that from Canva, which must have saved to my camera roll and I forwarded it with the rest.
“In the end, I just thought it best to have pics from the day without an explanation which is what’s up.
Andrew Gwynne admitted posting a fake photo of himself attending Armed Forces Day
Andrew Gwynne apologised for the post, blaming it on staff members in his office
“A simple, honest mistake rectified very quickly and just a little bit embarrassing.”
Conservative councillor Liam Billington, who serves Stalybridge South in Tameside, posted the edited photos to X and said: “Andrew Gwynne photoshopped himself into the Armed Forces Day event at Denton.
“Thing is, he used the same photo in Levenshulme the day before…”
Labour confirmed back in February it had suspended Gwynne from the party after shocking messages were made in a WhatsApp group with party councillors and officials called ‘Trigger Me Timbers’.
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Andrew Gwynne MP was dismissed on February 9
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In one of the messages, the former minister mocked a 72-year-old constituent who wrote about bin collections after not voting Labour.
The message read: “Dear resident, F*** your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs.”
Gwynne, who is now an independent MP for Gorton and Denton, also made antisemitic remarks in the group, questioning if someone named Marshall Rosenberg was “too militaristic and too Jewish” and asking if he was “in Mossad”.
He later apologised, saying he regretted the “badly misjudged” comments.
Gwynne has been in politics since 1996, when he became England’s youngest councillor at age 21.
He was elected as MP in 2005 and appointed Minister for Public Health and Prevention after last year’s General Election.
He previously served as Shadow Minister for Public Health and Social Care.