A FORMER Tameside Council leader has come out fighting against those making the most offensive comments in the now notorious Trigger me Timbers WhatsApp group.
In fact, Cllr Gerald Cooney believes anyone making racist statements should find another party to stand for.
A total of 10 Tameside representatives – eight from Denton plus Audenshaw’s Charlotte Martin and Cllr Cooney – are currently suspended from Labour as it investigates.
Denton MP Andrew Gwynne was sacked from his role as a health minister and also sidelined, along with Burnley’s Oliver Ryan, who was an Audenshaw councillor at the time.
Now Droylsden West Cllr Cooney, who was never a member of the group, has told how he reported it to Labour’s national executive committee (NEC).
He also delivered a simple verdict on anyone found to have written anything racist.
In an impassioned speech at a meeting of Tameside’s full council on Tuesday, March 4, he said: “I’m a grandfather of mixed-heritage grandchildren.
“Racism has no place in this borough and anyone who wants to do it, spout it or whatever, should never sit on this council.
“There is a party for them, but it isn’t the Labour Party and I hope the Labour Party, nationally, makes that clear.
“It’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable to say cyclists should be killed. It’s unacceptable that elderly people should die.
“I’ve been suspended because I reported it. I reported it to the NEC. I also reported it to the regional party. I told them what’s there.
“I felt embarrassed going to mass because people thought I was involved in it. I had to explain that.
“I will always speak against racism. I did it in my workplace and I’ve done it in this chamber, every single time.
“No-one who believes racism is banter should ever walk back into the Labour Party and should never be elected by the people of this borough.”