People who believe the things posted in a controversial Labour WhatsApp group shouldn’t have been MPs in the first place, according to Harriet Harman.

Speaking on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the veteran Labour parliamentarian said the scandal was “very serious” as the public already thinks MPs are “contemptuous of their voters”.

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Ms Harman was a Labour MP for 42 years and now sits in the House of Lords.

The scandal over the “Trigger Me Timbers” WhatsApp group has seen former health minister Andrew Gwynne sacked from the government and suspended from the Labour Party.

Fellow MP Oliver Ryan has also been suspended from the party.

Both men are still MPs.

And 11 councillors in Manchester have also been suspended, including Mr Gwynne’s wife.

Speaking on the podcast, Ms Harman said: “I think it’s very serious. One of the things that people think about MPs is that they talk nicely in public, but actually they’re contemptuous of their voters in private.

“And they say one thing publicly, but they believe something completely different.

“And what this WhatsApp group has shown is exactly that.

“A lot of people have said, ‘oh, how stupid they were to write this down’, but I think it’s much more profound than that.

“I think if you have got racist thoughts, and you have got antisemitic beliefs, and if you’ve got contempt for the people you’re supposed to be representing, you shouldn’t be an MP.

“It’s not that you shouldn’t write it down in a WhatsApp group.

“You shouldn’t be an MP in the first place.”

Read more:
The alleged messages and who sent them
11 councillors suspended over scandal
MP ‘deeply regrets’ comments he made

Ms Harman said that Mr Ryan and Mr Gwynne would not have been selected by their local Labour branch to run as MPs if the contents of the WhatsApp group were known.

She added: “Keir Starmer was absolutely right to not miss a beat, but to say all of these people – they shouldn’t be in the Labour Party.

“And that comes with political risks, because if there are by-elections, those will be very difficult by-elections.”

Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson reckons that the likelihood of voluntary by-elections was unlikely.

She told the podcast: “We’re about six months into a parliament.

“There’s four and a half years of collecting a £90,000 plus salary that they can both have, whether they’ve got the Labour whip or not.

“I don’t think they’re going to voluntarily resign and refight their seat.”

She also pointed out that, as both men represent seats in and around Greater Manchester, Sir Keir Starmer and Labour would be competing against Reform more than the Conservative Party, which he will want to avoid as it could give Nigel Farage’s party momentum.