A 75-year-old grandmother has claimed she is the woman suspended MP Andrew Gwynne described as a “Duki hag” in a controversial WhatsApp group.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News Elaine Cole said she was angry over the incident in which the MP was “effing and jeffing at me”. It comes after the MP was stripped of the Labour whip and sacked as a government minister amid a probe into vile comments posted in the ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ chat.
A second MP – Oliver Ryan – was also suspended last week over comments posted in the WhatsApp group alongside 11 Labour councillors. Mr Gwynne, the MP for Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester, allegedly joked that he hoped an elderly woman would die after she asked about her bins.
In a separate exchange reported by the Manchester Evening News, the MP recalled an incident in Dukinfield in which he said “I lost my s*** in the street with some Duki hag”. He told the group that the resident made his colleague cry and she ‘lied’ about having always voted Labour – contrary to the party’s data.
He added: “Big row ensued in street about me calling her a lier [sic]. She then said “you’re all a waste of space, you do nothing round here. My street is a s***hole”. It is a s***hole and you f***ing well live in it!” And walked off.
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“She was shouting down the street “what did you say? What did you say? I replied “you heard, you live in a s***hole love” and stuck the Vs up at her.”
Ms Cole, 75, who has lived in Dukinfield for 21 years, told the Manchester Evening News she was left fuming after the incident. She can’t be sure when it happened, but thinks it could have been in 2018 or 2019.
The pensioner said: “Whether I was lying or not… it’s nothing to do with him and who I vote for. He could have had a nice conversation with me if he hadn’t said, ‘don’t listen to her, she’s a liar’.” She added: “I shot down that path… I’m in my 70s. Even my son, who’s 56, daren’t call me a liar. I said ‘who do you think you’re calling a liar?’.
“He said ‘it’s here’. I said ‘you shouldn’t have that… what are you doing with a clipboard with my name and address on saying who I vote for? That vote should be secret’.
“Then he started giving me a load of abuse. I said ‘get up the road because if these weren’t around you, I’d knock your head off’. He was effing and jeffing at me as he walked up the street. He was putting fingers up at me and I just said ‘swivel on it’.”
She disputes Mr Gwynne’s claim she made one of his colleagues cry and the suggestion she dubbed Dukinfield a “sh**hole”, saying she loves the area. Ms Cole also said she wanted to report the incident to Labour at the time, but didn’t know how. She said she now supports Reform.
Mr Gwynne has previously said he deeply regretted his “badly misjudged comments” and apologised for “any offence caused” in a statement. He added earlier this month: “I’ve served the Labour Party all my life and it was a huge honour to be appointed a minister by Keir Starmer. 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.”
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