The sacking of a little-known Labour MP from the Government will merit barely even a footnote in the history books. Another minor figure in politics has been caught behaving stupidly. So Andrew Gwynne was kicked out quickly by a struggling prime minister determined not to let such distractions bubble long in the media, provoking embarrassment for his party and delight for the opposition.
The scandal will blow over rapidly given the scale of problems facing Westminster and all the tumultuous events taking place around the world, however, with the former minister’s name soon to be forgotten except by the most devout political nerds.
Yet the rise and fall of this foolish man should provide pause for reflection at a time when faith is declining in democracy, inflamed by the phoney gods of populism preaching their corrosive messages of division and hate.
Consider first that the disturbing banter exposed by The Mail on Sunday was on a WhatsApp group – established six years ago – that included at least a dozen Labour councillors, party officials and another MP from his patch on Manchester’s outskirts. And this veteran politician, who claimed to idolise Nelson Mandela when entering parliament, felt confident enough on this forum to join in with abusive and crass banter that smacked of racism and antisemitism.
Gwynne once claimed that the best thing about being an MP was “being able to represent your constituents”. He was serving as a junior minister in the health and social care department. Yet, in those private discussions with his pals he was contemptuous to his own elderly constituents.
When one councillor shared a letter from a 72-year-old Stockport woman asking about bin collections while admitting she was not a Labour voter, he suggested the following response: “Dear resident, f**k your bins. I’m re-elected and without your vote. Screw you. PS: Hopefully you’ll have croaked it by the all-outs” [elections with every council seat contested].
His defenders argue these were private messages and besides, there is banter in every workplace that people would not want to see splashed across the front of a national newspaper. Certainly that is true of journalism – another profession scarred by cynicism, suffused with too many selfish charlatans and containing people who develop hard shells in face of fierce criticism or after witnessing terrible events, sometimes masking their emotions with tasteless jokes.
Yet, Gwynne’s imperious abuse and mockery exposes a rot eating away at politics to the extent that it harms democracy, with polls showing there is growing discontent over our system of government while disgruntled voters perceive a political elite at Westminster that is not just grasping and inept but actively sneering at them.
He is small fry. And yes, there are many dedicated folk on all sides in politics driven by the best of intentions. Yet this glimpse into a private chat is discomforting because it is in keeping with Gordon Brown recoiling in horror after meeting a lifelong Labour voter who complained about immigration, labelling her a “bigoted woman”, or discovering that Boris Johnson’s Downing Street frequently breached lockdown rules in a pandemic while ordinary people obeyed all their diktats.
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Read MoreIt fuels the widespread suspicion – like one former prime minister lobbying to earn millions from a financier or the current incumbent blagging free suits after vowing to stop sleaze – that Westminster is filled with arrogant chancers who lack integrity and are motivated largely by self-interest.
Gwynne is a perfect example of this dominant political class that has become rigidly professionalised, ruthlessly tribal and yet regrettably seems devoid of core values or alternative life experiences to underpin their vital battles.
A history graduate from Salford University, he was the country’s youngest councillor at the age of 21 and researcher for an MP before entering parliament two decades ago aged 30.
It is hard to see how these experiences equipped him with insights or skills to help fix our most complex public service, decaying so disastrously to the detriment of millions of lives. Yet he could joust with Johnson by calling him a “pillock”, publicly proclaim support for women pensioners and slide seamlessly from Jeremy Corbyn’s front bench to pushing Blairite health reforms under Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting.
Now we have a glimpse of how this 50-year-old politician, winning elections all his adult life, viewed voters. Note how the shamed member for Gorton and Denton is among 58 of the 406 Labour MPs coming from a previous role in politics.
According to Sam Freedman, author of the coruscating Failed State, they join 51 others from local government, 44 from charities – mainly in the aid industry that serves like a state agency – 38 from trade unions, 14 academics and eight from think tanks. Even among those working previously in the private sector, 47 were either lawyers or lobbyists.
The Tory side also lacks sufficient depth or real diversity, delivering ranks of ambitious hypocrites who publicly declared fealty to leaders as politically diverse as David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss while public services collapsed.
Such narrow recruitment – reliant on career politicians – is intensified by the toxicity of politics in this social media era, fuelling the chronic shortage of talent and stifling conformity.
So we see vacuous, bunker-mentality tribal politics that lacks values, dominated by people who see simply a game to be won at all costs rather than a chance to improve lives or fix the toughest problems.
This is the path that leads one democratic nation down the cul-de-sac of Brexit and another into the arms of Donald Trump – cheered on by partisans, often aware their nation is hurtling in the wrong direction.
This is the corrupted, floundering and sordid politics that betrays public trust, dominated by people devoid of decency. And this is the system that is crying out for drastic reform if we want to save democracy – as highlighted by the disdainful swagger of a Labour MP secretly mocking an elderly female voter.
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