Simon Danczuk IS ARRESTED

When Zelo Street revealed the other day that Rochdale’s still nominally Labour MP Simon Danczuk was facing imminent arrest, there was no thought that the arrest would take place outside the UK, or that it would be for a combination of drunken and violent behaviour. But Spanker Si is always ready to surprise us, and so it has come to pass that the Guardia Civil at Orihuela have caused him to be nicked.

On the front page for all the wrong reasons - AGAIN

Not for the first time, the Murdoch Sun has the story, although whether Danczuk and estranged wife Karen got any money for this one is doubtful. “Labour MP Simon Danczuk thrown in police cell after holiday row with estranged wife Karen – who ended up in hospital … Selfie queen Karen was left bloody and bruised after a row with her ex-husband while the pair holidayed in Spain” tells the headline.

At which point many seasoned Danczuk watchers may feel a sense of déjà vu: even before they were married, Si and Kazza had a blazing row on a Spanish holiday and she was left at Alicante airport with no money and two small children to look after. It was her change of story later, retracting the assertion that Danczuk had hit her, that led to the “Rochdale Seven” being suspended or expelled from the Labour Party.

Danczuk, I can reveal, tried to suppress reporting of that story, to the extent that legal threats were made against media outlets who tried to run it. But when the Mail On Sunday sent David Rose to Rochdale some time later, and he spilled the beans on the affair, no lawyers’ letters resulted from the exposé. Rose detailed the kind of behaviour that has now come around again - with the certainty of night following day.

Compare the headline from Rose’s MoS article from July last year - “The dark side of the Danczuks: A Spanish family holiday suddenly abandoned. A text that read: ‘I’m scared.’ A claim of threats to kill” - with what a neighbour said of the latest row: “The whole neighbourhood was awake … Some got so concerned they ran over to intervene … Karen appeared to have a large cut to her chest … I think she had been cut by glass shattering … It looked quite nasty … Police arrived and led Simon from the house in handcuffs”.

My information is that Karan Danczuk, who was taken away in an ambulance, had suffered two stab wounds.

And Labour has serious questions to answer

As yesterday was a bank holiday in Spain, Danczuk has remained in the local nick. Whether the Spanish authorities let him out is not yet clear: he may be charged and have to stand trial, which would be interesting to see, especially if Spanker Si gets himself a custodial sentence. And the Labour Party will now have to act.

The party’s North West regional director Anna Hutchinson told party members that there was no case for Danczuk to answer back in 2008. Those seven party members who publicly doubted his suitability as a candidate were suspended or expelled. It’s now clear that the Rochdale Seven were right, and the party covered up for Spanker Si.

Simon Danczuk should be expelled from the Labour Party without further delay. And if he is charged and convicted over the incident in Alicante, he should stand down as an MP, and immediately. It is time for the Danczuk soap opera to leave Parliament.