A SECOND MP has lost the Labour whip over his membership of a WhatsApp group containing offensive comments, after a minister was sacked following messages he sent to the chat.

Burnley MP Oliver Ryan confirmed that he was a member of the Trigger Me Timbers group chat that led to Gorton and Denton MP Andrew Gwynne being sacked from his ministerial post at the weekend.

Mr Ryan, who is gay, appeared to mock a fellow Labour MP over his sexuality and also used an offensive nickname to refer to local Labour leader Colin Bailey in exchanges in the group, the Daily Mail reported.

This follows Mr Gwynne’s sacking from his job as a health minister and suspension from the Labour Party over what he said were “badly misjudged” comments that he regretted.

He reportedly expressed hope that a 72-year-old woman would soon die after she asked a councillor about bin collections and joked about a constituent being “mown down” by a lorry.

Posting on X on Saturday, Mr Gwynne apologised for any offence caused but did not suggest that he would stand down as an MP.

He wrote: “Between 2019 and early 2022, I was a member of a WhatsApp group created by my MP and former employer, Andrew Gwynne.

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

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

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

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

“I will co-operate fully with the Labour Party’s investigation.”

The WhatsApp group is said to include more than 40 Labour councillors and party officials.

All of the members who have been named publicly so far are members of Labour to Win, which says it “aims to bring members together who believe in our changed Labour Party and want Labour to succeed in government.”

They include Tameside Council cabinet member Claire Reid, who is the national policy forum representative for the north-west of England.