Simon Danczuk Bullying Hypocrisy

Rochdale’s nominally Labour MP has once again been given a platform by the right-leaning press to tell the world that the party he allegedly loves is being taken over by rotten lefty bullies, and that by inference he is a helpless victim. This will come as a surprise to many in Rochdale, where they know all about Danczuk’s ability to play the sympathy card with one hand, while smearing and threatening with the other.

He kicks off by telling of “today’s Labour Party on the brink of civil war and fighting a hostile hard Left takeover”, which will come as a surprise to those who saw Jeremy Corbyn’s genial demeanour on The Andy Marr Show (tm) this morning. This was followed by the claim that former Liverpool councillor Derek Hatton is “rejoining” Labour, which will come as a surprise to not only the party, but Degsy as well.

What is his justification for speaking out? “This has been my party all my life - and if Jeremy Corbyn can spend years attacking a Labour leader with the biggest public mandate in history, vote against Labour more times than David Cameron and call that a principled stand, then I’m perfectly entitled to have my say”. Then he talks of “gangs of Corbynistas aggressively bullying and attacking anyone”.

Well, let me put Simon Danczuk straight on “bullying and attacking people”. His former sidekick Matt Baker stands accused of attempting to anonymously and viciously smear former Rochdale council leader Colin Lambert, and former Mayor of Rochdale Robin Parker, a story first broached recently by Zelo Street, taken up by Rochdale Online and then the Manchester Evening News. And there’s more. Much more.

As the Mail On Sunday - that’s the same paper that has today given him a platform - told in July this year, Danczuk has never convincingly explained the almighty row he and then-partner Karen Burke had while on holiday in Spain, which led to her being dumped, with two small children, at Alicante Airport in the dead of night with no tickets, and no money with which to buy them. The fallout from that row has rumbled on for years.

Rochdale Online has the story: “Mr Danczuk complained back in 2009 that seven members of Rochdale Labour Party had undermined him in seeking an investigation into his conduct. Five of the seven were expelled from the party and two suspended. One of those suspended was the late Maureen Nicholl, 76 at the time and a party member for 60 years”. The question of his conduct followed from that row with his partner.

My information is that Simon Danczuk tried his best to suppress reporting of the row, which happened before he was first elected to Parliament, and that this once more involved bullying, only this time of the legal threat variety. So when he starts pleading that he’s Mr Reasonable, and he’s being bullied, there will be much hollow laughter in and around the town of Rochdale. As there will be when he claims to be tough on terrorism.

There are no gangs. There is no purge. And there is no credibility in Simon Danczuk.