‘Shiver Me Timbers’ WhatsApp group councillor gets standards brief

A councillor suspended for involvement in a controversial political WhatsApp group has been appointed to her authority’s standards watchdog.

Brenda Warrington was a member of the ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ social media chat, in which messages containing derogatory comments about constituents were made, prompting the suspensions of Labour councillors and MPs.

Tameside Council Conservatives criticised former council leader Warrington being put onto the committee, which investigates breaches of the code of conduct.

Warrington and Tameside Council have been approached for comment.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reports that at a Tameside Council meeting on Tuesday, Conservative councillor Dan Costello said Warrington was a member of a social media group in which members of the public were “mocked and abused”.

Costello said the actions of those in the group were not “anything close to high standards of conduct”.

“In the transcripts from that group Councillor Warrington has over 1,500 contributions. These contributions include descriptions of people as ‘idiots’, ‘stupid’, ‘peevish’ and even as ‘bonkers’.”

Costello said he accepted there was “no constitutional reason” Ms Warrington could not be appointed to the committee, but he questioned her presence.

Labour’s Councillor Joe Kitchen, chair of council business, said issues related to the WhatsApp group were under investigation and those enquiries were ongoing.