A councillor involved in the Trigger Me Timbers WhatsApp scandal has been found to have breached multiple sections of Stockport council's code of conduct.

David Sedgwick was a member of the WhatsApp group of Labour councillors and ex-MP Andrew Gwynne when allegedly offensive messages emerged from the chat last year.

A Stockport Council investigation into Mr Sedgwick's conduct in the group was launched after 11 complaints were made against him.

The council's monitoring officer, Vicki Bates, presented a 60-page report to councillors and members of the standards sub-committee on March 24 with her recommendations.

Among the findings in the report was that David Sedgwick had made 'many hateful and highly inappropriate comments' during his conversations in the group.

The council's standards sub-committee found that multiple sections of Stockport council's code of conduct had been breached by Councillor Sedgwick.

A large part of the hearing focused on comments made by Mr Sedgwick on the WhatsApp group while he was attending a council meeting on October 22, 2020.

Stephen Clarke, the co-opted member chairing the standards hearing on March 24, said: "With regards to section 1.1 of the code, which is failure to treat other councillors and members of the public with respect, we felt the code was engaged and that a breach of this section was evidenced by the comments made while councillor Sedgwick was in attendance at a council meeting on 22 October 2020."

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Further breaches were found for section 2.1 of the code over bullying or abusive behaviour, section 4 over the disclosure of confidential information, and section 5 over bringing the office of councillor or the council into disrepute.

The standards sub-committee also found that Councillor Sedgwick had breached the Nolan principles of standards in public office relating to leadership and integrity.

Balancing the committee's findings, Mr Clarke added: "The sub-committee considered the representations made by councillor Sedgwick, which expressed regret and contrition for alleged breaches of the code, offered an unreserved apology, and noted the self-reporting of alleged breaches."

The standards sub-committee agreed on sanctions to impose on Councillor Sedgwick.

This includes code of conduct training within three months, a recommendation for a council meeting censure, and a recommendation to remove Councillor Sedgwick from his seat on the corporate, resource management and governance scrutiny committee.

Mr Sedgwick, who quit the Labour Party and sits as an independent councillor in Stockport, did not attend the hearing which lasted three hours in total.

A statement was read out at the standards hearing on David Sedgwick's behalf.

In it he said: "I fully accept the majority monitoring officer's findings that, in some instances, my conduct fell below the standards expected of an elected member, particularly in relation to failing to treat others with respect and the use of inappropriate or abusive language.

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"While these comments were made in what I considered to be a private setting and not a serious forum for discussion, I recognise that this does not diminish my responsibility.

"I regret those instances and offer an unreserved apology.

"I also acknowledge that I should have exercised stronger judgement in challenging inappropriate remarks made by others within the group."

When messages from the Trigger Me Timbers WhatsApp came out last year, it sparked a string of suspensions from the Labour Party, and Andrew Gwynne was sacked as a government minister.

Mr Gwynne later stepped down as the MP for Gorton and Denton on health grounds, triggering the recent by-election won by the Green Party's Hannah Spencer.

Stockport council's investigation into David Sedgwick's role in the WhatsApp group revealed a number of allegedly offensive comments he had made.

One conversation published in the public report focused on comments made by Councillor Sedgwick during an online council meeting in October 2020.

According to the report, David Sedgwick described another councillor as 'absolutely crackers' and said 'I reckon he's one for Operation Yew Tree'.

Operation Yewtree was led by the Metropolitan Police in 2012 to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile and others.

In the same conversation, David Sedgwick was asked who might be watching the online meeting, and he shared the name of a resident and Stockport Labour club name – which were redacted in the report – and then added a message saying 'assorted weirdos', according to the council investigation.

Stockport council's report highlighted other conversations and allegations of offensive messages.

It went on to say: "There are two references to a local MP being called "Special Needs [redated name]" but those comments are not clearly linked to Cllr S acting in his capacity as a councillor.

"There is continual bullying of this MP throughout the transcript in terms of his appearance by various members of the group. However, as this relates to Parliament and the Labour Party rather than in Cllr S's capacity as a councillor, this is not a breach of the Code."

In his statement issued to the standards sub-committee, Councillor Sedgwick said that the complaints made against him were from 'individuals with a history of political hostility towards me'.

He added: "This is not raised to deflect responsibility, but to ensure the committee has a full understanding of the environment in which these matters arose.

"I remain committed to upholding the highest standards of conduct and to learning from this process."

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