Simon Danczuk - My Part In His Downfall

Almost unnoticed among all the other events of election night, Rochdale’s former MP Simon Danczuk, banned by the Labour Party from standing as their candidate and then expelled when he decided to stand as an independent, was humiliated as he failed to retain his deposit, winning less than 900 votes. His successor Tony Lloyd increased the Labour vote, and the vote share. Danczuk was not even present for the result.

Here on Zelo Street, there was quiet satisfaction that the world of politics was rid of another charlatan, and of a job well done in bringing some of Spanker Si’s less wonderful behaviour to a wider audience. Yes, for the past two years, we’ve been tough on Danczuk, and tough on the causes of Danczuk. And now we’ve got the SOB.

From the dirty tricks campaign waged against a former Rochdale Council leader and a former Mayor of the town (HERE and HERE), to yet another dirty tricks campaign against Councillor Farooq Ali (in all cases, those smeared had dared to oppose Danczuk), the grubby behaviour of Danczuk and his former sidekick Matt Baker were laid bare.

And then there was the saga of the book he co-wrote with Baker about Rochdale’s former long-serving MP Cyril Smith, Smile For The Camera. With this came the myth that is was down to Danczuk that Smith had been exposed. It was not: that had come back in 1979 via the Rochdale Alternative Press, John Walker, and Private Eye magazine. The cynical manipulation of Walker was covered on Zelo Street (HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE).

The Danczuk and Baker book peddled some dangerous misconceptions: first that Smith had been involved in abuse of young people at Knowl View, a now-defunct residential school. There were instances of terrible abuse at Knowl View - but Cyril Smith was not part of that. All that the Danczuk book did was to muddy the waters.

The second myth peddled by Smile For The Camera was that Smith was a paedophile, and to this end a totally false story about the former MP being stopped by the Police on the M1 at or near Watford Gap services in possession of a large amount of child porn was deployed. Northants Police were so concerned that they investigated. They asked Danczuk and Baker if they had any evidence to contribute. They offered … nothing.

There was so much more: the abandonment of constituents when Rochdale was inundated with flood water, drunken threats against a neighbouring Labour MP, arrest and temporary imprisonment by the Guardia Civil at Orihuela following yet another heated bust-up with ex-wife Karen, the splashing of another grubby and opportunistic fling with a much younger woman over the front page of the Murdoch Sun. And of course there was the shaming and sleazy “sexting” of a 17-year-old girl.

His hypocrisy over MP’s expenses, and subsequent paying back of a five-figure sum he had over-claimed, are well known. And don’t get me started on the antics of the less than totally fragrant Kazza. Now, as Zelo Street has predicted several times, Simon Danczuk is electoral history. He is leaving politics, apparently for good. And this is excellent news - so long as the SOB doesn’t come back.

Yes, there goes Simon Danczuk, on his way … out.