Simon Danczuk’s Cyril Smith Book - 4

JOHN WALKER GETS THE BRUSH-OFF

After Smile For The Camera was published, John Walker, who had done so much work to firm up the idea of a book by Simon Danczuk on his predecessor Cyril Smith, and who had put in so much work before being effectively told that his services were no longer required, realised that he’d been had.

But he gave it one last chance - and wrote to Danczuk asking if the MP would make a donation to the educational charity he and his wife run in the Gambia. It has to be stressed that at no time did Walker ask for a payment to be made to himself. The letter makes some most interesting points - none of which have been disputed by Danczuk.

These comments stand out, and bear repetition: “At your suggestion, I met you in the Commons … You were excited at the prospect and wished to continue discussions … Again, at your suggestion, we met at your [redacted] flat in the Christmas recess to discuss the detail.  You were very excited by now and undertook to arrange a meeting with a literary agent, with a view to securing publication”.

There’s more: “On the basis of this - and at your suggestion, I  put together a  1,600 proposal on the rough structure of the book, and a 12,000 word synopsis, to present to the agents, whom we met in [redacted] on 9 January 2013 … Again, at your suggestion, I travelled to Rochdale two days later (at my own expense), to spend  four hours with your press assistant, Matthew Baker”. And there Danczuk changed his tone.

“In the 48 hours between your excitement at the meeting with the agents and my visit to Rochdale, you had gone extremely cold on the whole proposal and did not really wish to discuss it … Matthew Baker sought every opportunity to change the subject … and you began to talk about wishing to turn the story into a TV docudrama”.

Guess what happened then? “About a month later, I received a phone call from Matthew Baker, out of the blue, saying that he and you were writing a book on the Smith story. He started asking questions … he seemed very nervous, when he called and extremely evasive in responding to any questions I had of him”. And it gets worse.

“Then, very strangely, over the Christmas break, I got a phone call from you, at home.  I'm not really sure why, but I can only assume to establish whether or not I had any publishing plans. In the course of the phone call, you confirmed that your publication was going ahead, as a result of an introduction from the literary agents we had met”.

Walker then suggests that Danczuk make a donation to his educational charity - after all, other publications that he had assisted had done so. His letter was dated 17 April 2014.

Only on 29 July - more than three months later - came Danczuk’s reply, written - one might more appropriately say scrawled - on House of Commons notepaper. It is reproduced verbatim here. And this is what the MP had to say.

“I’m conscious that I never responded to your letter from April - please accept my apologies … You make a number of important points in your letter and I would not take issue with any of them [my emphasis]”.

“The proposal that secured the book deal was radically different from anything you produced or shared with us … I’m hoping that with the passage of time you might now take a different view to what you did in April [!] … I’d very much like to stay in touch and would be delighted to meet for a beer or coffee”.

“There is no doubt that you played a major part in the Cyril Smith story (as I acknowledge in the book) and as a consequence, have played a part in the bigger story about child abuse connected to Westminster … Hope you do fancy meeting up”.

Understandably, John Walker, who is as conscious as anyone else of the limited monetary value in an acknowledgement, decided not to waste any more of his time on Simon Danczuk. And there ends a salutary lesson for anyone who puts their trust in “Rochdale’s MP”.