Simon Danczuk’s Bad Press Sunday

Those observing the machinations of Rochdale’s nominally Labour MP Simon Danczuk will have noticed that his customary Sunday rant aimed at his party leader has not appeared in the Mail On Sunday today, but instead in the Murdoch Sun. This may be not unconnected to the MoS running a highly critical article about Danczuk today, which muses over the relationship between the MP and his assistant Nasreen Nazir.

Danczuk “is employing a glamorous parliamentary assistant who once tried to sue him for sexual harassment … Mr Danczuk has given a £30,000- a-year job to Nasreen Nazir, 37, who worked for his private company ten years ago … The MP for Rochdale has strongly denied any suggestion that he had an affair with Ms Nazir”. His first wife Sonia “alleged [Ms Nazir] was an ‘old flame’ of her former husband”.

The article might have been more extensive, but for the Paris attacks’ coverage. But what has appeared is enough to suggest that the MoS has decided that it is no longer worth their while stumping up around £1,000 an hour for the dubious privilege of being served up a weekly formulaic moan about why Jeremy Corbyn is wrong on every subject chosen, while Danczuk is of course not only right, but in tune with the voters. Allegedly.

Sadly, jumping ship to the Sun has not improved Danczuk’s lot, as he claims “we can’t have an Opposition that appears not to take terrorism seriously … There are many Labour moderates who don’t like the tone being set by Jeremy Corbyn on national security - and it’s time we made clear where we stand … Terrorism provokes strong emotions and Brits rightly want evil to be confronted”. So let’s see what Jezza has said about Paris.

Here’s Corbyn’s letter to François Hollande: “Our whole country is shocked and appalled by these sickening and unjustifiable attacks on innocent civilians … And we stand united with your country in expressing our unequivocal condemnation of those involved in planning and carrying out these atrocities … The shocking events in Paris are a reminder to all of the ever-present threat of terrorism and indiscriminate violence”. 

And there’s more: “We will support every effort to bring to justice the perpetrators of these despicable acts”. His leader’s statement is similarly direct: “What took place in the French capital yesterday was horrific and immoral … We stand in solidarity with the people of France – as with all victims of terror and violence”. If he wants “evil to be confronted”, Danczuk should be cheering on his party leader.

Of course, what has happened here is that Danczuk has assumed - totally wrongly - that Corbyn would not address the subject of terrorism directly. So his suggestion that Corbyn would be soft on the perpetrators of the Paris attacks is not only misguided, it had been overtaken by reality before his own column - whoever wrote it - appeared in today’s Sun.

All of which means Simon Danczuk has had a lousy Sunday in the papers. And what he must know is that the MoS is likely to be back with more questions. Good.