The Mancunian Way: Inside the toxic Whatsapp group

It's the WhatsApp group that has rocked British politics over the last few days - and it all started right here in Greater Manchester.

Leaked messages from the group titled 'Trigger Me Timbers' have led to a minister being sacked, two MPs being suspended and three councillors stepping down from senior posts.

Gorton and Denton MP Andrew Gwynne, who was sacked as a junior health minister, has been accused of making antisemitic, sexist and racist remarks in the group titled 'Trigger Me Timbers'. He also appears to have joked about wishing that a Stockport pensioner would die.

Several Labour sources have told the Manchester Evening News that they were 'genuinely shocked' when they saw the comments. But some are not surprised to see such a scandal emerge from Tameside's Labour group where politics is said to be 'toxic' and 'factional'.

These divisions are not new. The M.E.N. has been reporting on the fractious nature of the borough's Labour group, which has had three leaders in as many years, for some time now.

Our Local Democracy Reporters Ethan Davies and George Lythgoe uncovered new details about the now infamous WhatsApp group in this piece last night, including who was in the group, why it was set up and where the name comes from. But it also sets the context in which this story has unfolded as various theories about who leaked the messages emerge.

So what happens next? Alongside Mr Gwynne, former Tameside councillor Oliver Ryan, who is now the MP for Burnley, has also been suspended from Labour meaning they will sit in Parliament as independents while the party investigates - unless they choose to stand down.

Labour sources suggest it is unlikely that the MPs will stand down anytime soon - not least because the party