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Simon Danczuk

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Simon Danczuk
Simon Danczuk with Eleanor Laing, in 2013
Member of Parliament
for Rochdale
In office
6 May 2010 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byPaul Rowen
Succeeded byTony Lloyd
Personal details
Born
Simon Christopher Danczuk

(1966-10-24) 24 October 1966 (age 58)
Hapton, Lancashire, England
Political partyReform UK (2023–present)[1]
Other political
affiliations		Labour (before 2017)
Alma materLancaster University

Simon Christopher Danczuk (/ˈdæntʃək/ DAN-chək; born 24 October 1966) is a British author and former Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the constituency of Rochdale between 2010 and 2017. Elected as a member of the Labour Party, he was suspended from the party in 2015 after it emerged he had exchanged explicit messages with a 17-year-old girl. He has co-written two books, Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith and Scandal at Dolphin Square.[2] He was the Reform UK candidate in the 2024 Rochdale by-election, which was later won by Workers Party of Britain leader George Galloway.[3] He came sixth behind Liberal Democrats, Labour, Conservatives and Independent candidate David Tully.[4]

Early life

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Danczuk grew up in Hapton, Lancashire and is of Polish descent. He attended Gawthorpe School, now called Shuttleworth College in Burnley.

Career

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He began his working life at the age of sixteen in a factory making gas fires, before moving to the chemical company ICI.[5] Whilst working, he studied at night school and gained qualifications he had missed at secondary school. He then gained a place as a mature student at Lancaster University, where he studied Economics, Politics and Sociology.[6]

Danczuk became involved in the Labour movement after joining the Labour Party through the GMB trade union in the late 1980s. In 1993, at the age of 27, he was elected as a councillor to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and served for six years, with portfolios including economic development and education.[7]

In 1999, Danczuk became the founding director of a research, public affairs and communications consultancy called Vision Twentyone alongside Ruth Turner, who would later become Director of Government Relations within Tony Blair's Downing Street office.[8] Danczuk held this position until his election to Parliament in 2010. He also has held research positions at The Big Issue in the North, Opinion Research Corporation, Bolton Bury TEC and worked for academics at Lancaster University.

Danczuk founded the Necessary Group, a campaign group of businessmen and politicians which campaigned prior to the expected referendums for an elected Regional Assembly for the North West of England.[9]

Danczuk was selected in early 2007 to be the Rochdale Labour Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate.[7] He received death threats during the selection process, including a funeral wreath with flowers spelling 'Simon' and a four-foot cross being anonymously sent to his work office.[10]

Parliamentary career

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Danczuk (back row, second from left), in 2013, on a parliamentary visit to Hong Kong

Danczuk was first elected to Parliament in the 2010 general election. He unseated incumbent Liberal Democrat Paul Rowen and secured a majority of 889 votes. Danczuk won the seat for Labour despite a microphone picking up Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling Rochdale resident Gillian Duffy a "bigoted woman" on a visit to the constituency during the campaign.[11]

In May 2011, Danczuk made a criminal complaint to Essex Police about Liberal Democrat MP and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, after it was alleged that Huhne had asked his wife, economist Vicky Pryce, to take his penalty points for a speeding offence in 2003.[12] On 3 February 2012, Huhne became the first Cabinet Minister in British political history to be forced from office as a result of criminal proceedings. Huhne was later tried and imprisoned, as was Vicky Pryce.[13]

Danczuk was re-elected as the Labour MP for Rochdale at the 2015 general election, substantially increasing his majority from 889 to 12,442 over the second-placed UKIP candidate.[14]

Danczuk was critical of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party following his election as leader on 12 September 2015. The Financial Times described him as Corbyn's "most outspoken internal critic".[15]

Danczuk was particularly active investigating historical allegations of child abuse against politicians. His campaigning attracted significant media attention and as a result he was one of the most high-profile backbench MPs.[16] In March 2014 Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith was published, an exposé of child sexual abuse committed by former Rochdale MP Cyril Smith, written by Danczuk along with researcher and campaigner Matthew Baker.[17] The book was serialised in the Daily Mail, and was named Political Book of the Year for 2014 by the Sunday Times.[18]

2016 IPSA investigation into expenses

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In February 2016, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) conducted an investigation into expenses claimed by Danczuk, following several newspaper investigations and a complaint from the member of the public. The report, published on 18 March 2016 concluded that Danczuk had claimed residency expenses for his two oldest children over a period of 3 years, which was required to be repaid—a total of £11,583.20 as well as £96.50 claimed for car parking charges, which had been claimed while he was on holiday in Spain.[19]

The report's conclusion stated:[19] "The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the MP obtained an increase to his Accommodation Expenditure budget by claiming dependant uplifts for his two oldest children for a period of over three years, when, at no point were either of the children routinely resident. The Compliance Officer must also conclude that this was done knowing that there was no reasonable prospect of the children staying at the accommodation."

Danczuk agreed to repay the £11,583.20 stating that he "I readily admit I did not read the rules. I relied on a member of staff to describe the rules to me at the time".[20] In a later separate statement, Danczuk referred to the rules as "vaguely worded"[20][21] and admitted error on his part, stating he would repay the money at the earliest available opportunity.[20][21]

Following the report, the Metropolitan Police reported Danczuk referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for criminal charges however the criminal case was dropped due to insufficient evidence.[22]

In July 2016, Danczuk was then later alleged by The Guardian newspaper to have claimed £500 to pay for a "crisis management" consultant's services over two days, three days after he was suspended from the Labour Party for his exchanging of sexually-explicit messages with then-17-year-old girl who had reached out to Danczuk's office seeking a career in politics.[23]

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)

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See also: Westminster paedophile dossier

During a Home Affairs Select Committee hearing in July 2014, Danczuk called for Leon Brittan, Home Secretary between 1983 and 1985, to make public what he knew about a dossier of allegations against politicians presented to him by Geoffrey Dickens (1931 – 1995, MP until 1995), which could identify several historic child sex abusers.[24][25] The Home Office stated that the dossier had not been retained in their files. Former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord Macdonald said the circumstances in which the dossier had gone missing were alarming, and recommended an inquiry into what happened.[26]

Prime Minister David Cameron subsequently asked the Home Office Permanent Secretary to investigate what happened to the missing dossier. The same month, Danczuk wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking for a review of the decision not to investigate certain historical allegations of sexual abuse made against senior Westminster politicians.[27]

Danczuk's investigation significantly contributed to the decision of the government to set up the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, which opened on 9 July 2015.[28] During the investigation, it was revealed that former Liberal Party leader David Steel learned about Cyril Smith's behaviour in 1979, but did nothing about it, and later nominated him for a knighthood. As a result, on 25 February 2020, he resigned from the Liberal Democrats and resigned from the House of Lords on 27 March 2020.[29]

For his investigative work on child abuse, Danczuk was named Campaigner of the Year by the Political Studies Association in November 2014,[30] and won the Contrarian Prize in June 2015.[31]

Suspension by the Labour party and resignation

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In December 2015, Danczuk's membership of the Labour Party was suspended following reports he had exchanged explicit messages with a 17-year-old girl.[32] Danczuk apologised for his behaviour, which he described as "inappropriate and stupid", and said the incident occurred during an extremely low point of his life after his second marriage had collapsed.[33] Danczuk was not found to have broken the law and was not expelled from the party, but the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party ruled that he would not be endorsed as a Labour Party candidate for the snap 2017 United Kingdom general election.[34] He resigned from the party in May 2017 and contested Rochdale as an independent candidate, finishing in fifth place. Labour candidate Tony Lloyd won the seat.[35] After the result, he said that he would not stand for election again.[36]

On the day he was nominated for the Rochdale election, he was accused of rape in the Westminster area of London, resulting in him receiving abuse online and on the streets. The Metropolitan Police cleared Danczuk of all allegations shortly before the election, with him believing the accusation was an attempt to "sabotage" his campaign.[37]

Subsequent career

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In February 2024 Danczuk announced that he had joined Reform UK three months prior[citation needed] and would be the Reform UK candidate for the 2024 Rochdale by-election.[38] Danczuk garnered the lowest number of votes in the by-election, coming sixth with 6.3 per cent of the votes cast.[39] His party alleged that election was rigged and that Danczuk was threatened and subjected to "menacing behaviour". No further evidence was presented for the claim of rigging.[40]

One individual was taken into custody due to threatening him, after posting a video online, referencing Danczuk's leaflet which stated "vote for Rochdale, not Gaza" and stating that Danczuk resembled TV character Phil Mitchell before threatening him.[40][41] The individual was later arrested.[42]

Personal life

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Danczuk has been married three times; his first two marriages ended in divorce, and he has two children each by his first and second wives.[43]

Danczuk married Karen Burke in 2012.[44] They have two sons.[45] The couple separated in June 2015.[46] In July 2015, he said that he had been suffering from depression caused by his campaigning work on child sexual abuse and that this had affected their marriage.[47][48]

In 2022, he became engaged to Claudine Uwamahoro, a Rwandan beauty therapist whom he met on a business trip to Rwanda in March 2022,[49] and they married in July 2023.[50]

Books by Simon Danczuk

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  • Danczuk, Simon and Baker, Matthew (2014). Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-849546-44-7. Extract
  • Danczuk, Simon and Smith, Daniel (2022). Scandal at Dolphin Square. The History Press Ltd. ISBN 9780750997140. [1]

References

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  1. ^ Pidd, Helen (1 February 2024). "Ex-MP Simon Danczuk suspended for sexting to fight byelection for Reform". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  2. ^ Gimson, Andrew (10 July 2014). "Profile: Simon Danczuk, the tough Rochdale MP unafraid to ask the difficult questions on child sex abuse". Conservative Home. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  3. ^ McFadden, Brendan (1 February 2024). "Ex-Labour MP who sent explicit texts to 17 year old to stand as Reform candidate". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  4. ^ Council, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough (29 February 2024). "Election results for Rochdale, 29 February 2024". democracy.rochdale.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Rochdale". UK Polling Report 2010. Anthony Wells.
  6. ^ "Simon Danczuk Campaigns Against Child Abuse". Steps Alumni Magazine. Lancaster University. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Simon Danczuk selected as Rochdale Labour Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate". Rochdale Online. 26 January 2007.
  8. ^ "The V21 team". Vision 21. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Referendum decision sparks launch of 'Yes' campaign". Ellesmere Port Pioneer. 17 June 2003. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  10. ^ "Quit Race or Die". Manchester Evening News. 13 August 2007.
  11. ^ Verrinder, James (7 May 2010). "Former researchers Zahawi and Danczuk win seats in UK parliament". Research-Online.com.
  12. ^ "Police to decide whether to probe Huhne speeding claim". BBC News. 15 May 2011.
  13. ^ Walker, Peter (11 March 2013). "Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce each jailed for eight months". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Rochdale - General Election 2015: Results". Rochdale Online. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  15. ^ George Parker (25 October 2015). "Backbencher Danczuk threatens to challenge Corbyn for leadership". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 January 2016. (subscription required)
  16. ^ "Simon Danczuk censured for late registration of Daily Mail cash". The Guardian. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Smile for the Camera". Biteback Publishing. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  18. ^ "Simon Danczuk wins Contrarian Prize". Rochdale Online. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  19. ^ a b Davis, Peter (18 March 2016). "Statement Of Provisional Findings - Mr Simon Danczuk MP - Member of Parliament for Rochdale - COM 1066" (PDF). Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  20. ^ a b c "Simon Danczuk ordered to repay thousands of pounds in expenses". The Independent. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  21. ^ a b "MP Simon Danczuk admits wrongly claiming £11,000 expenses". BBC News. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  22. ^ Perraudin, Frances; reporter, Frances Perraudin North of England (13 February 2018). "Former MP Simon Danczuk will not face charges over expenses". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  23. ^ Parveen, Nazia; correspondent, Nazia Parveen North of England (1 July 2016). "Labour MP claimed for 'crisis management' expenses after scandal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 February 2024. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  24. ^ "Leon Brittan urged to comment on 1980s 'paedophile dossier'". BBC News. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  25. ^ "Home Office under fire over 'lost' paedophile dossier". BBC News. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  26. ^ Georgia Graham & James Kirkup (2 July 2014). "Launch formal investigation into the lost paedophile dossier, says former DPP". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 July 2014. (registration required)
  27. ^ Mark Conrad & David Hencke (1 July 2014). "Simon Danczuk ask DPP to review claim over Elm Guest House". Exaro News. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  28. ^ Dathan, Matt (6 July 2015). "Simon Danczuk steps back from child abuse campaign after it left him with depression and a wrecked marriage". The Independent.
  29. ^ "Lord Steel resigns from Liberal Democrats and House of Lords after child sex abuse inquiry report". ITV. 25 February 2020.
  30. ^ "Simon Danczuk: 'Campaigner of the Year'". Rochdale Online. 25 November 2014.
  31. ^ "Simon Danczuk wins Contrarian Prize". Rochdale Online. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2020. (subscription required)
  32. ^ "Labour's Simon Danczuk suspended over 'inappropriate behaviour'". BBC. 31 December 2015.
  33. ^ Perraudin, Frances (31 December 2015). "Simon Danczuk apologises unreservedly after explicit texts claims". The Guardian.
  34. ^ "Labour bans Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk from standing in election". 2 May 2017.
  35. ^ McDonnell, Seamus (9 June 2017). "Labour's Tony Lloyd wins Rochdale seat with largest majority since 1832 whilst incumbent MP Danczuk storms out of count". Mancunian Matters.
  36. ^ Fitzgerald, Todd (10 June 2017). "Former Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk says he will not return to politics following his election defeat". Mancunian Matters.
  37. ^ Bainbridge, Katherine (1 June 2017). "Former MP Simon Danczuk cleared over rape allegations". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  38. ^ Rochdale Borough Council (2 February 2024). "STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED AND NOTICE OF POLL: Rochdale Constituency". rochdale.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  39. ^ "George Galloway wins Rochdale by-election by nearly 6,000 votes". BBC News. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  40. ^ a b Timan, Joseph (1 March 2024). "Reform say Rochdale by-election was not 'free and fair' after death threat claim". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  41. ^ Britton, Paul (26 February 2024). "Death threats allegedly made against Simon Danczuk". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  42. ^ Blakey, Ashlie (27 February 2024). "Man arrested over alleged 'online threat' made to Simon Danczuk". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  43. ^ Mudie, Keir (1 February 2016). "Sex text MP Simon Danczuk faces watchdog probe over expenses claims for 'children he rarely sees'". Daily Mirror.
  44. ^ Rajeev Syal (31 December 2015). "Simon Danczuk: a campaigning MP with a complex personal life". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  45. ^ Gordon, Bryony (24 January 2015). "Karen Danczuk: 'Don't dare say I set a bad example'". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  46. ^ "Labour MP Simon Danczuk splits from wife Karen". Daily Telegraph. London. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  47. ^ "MP Simon Danczuk to step back from child abuse campaign". BBC News. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  48. ^ Perraudin, Frances (6 July 2015). "Simon Danczuk steps back from campaigning against child abuse". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  49. ^ Hill, Patrick (12 November 2022). "Ex-MP suspended over sexting row is engaged with beauty therapist half his age". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  50. ^ "'I swapped Rwanda for Rochdale to marry ex-Labour and now we're adopting'". Daily Mirror. 30 September 2023.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Rochdale
2010–2017 		Succeeded by
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