Northern Voices: 'The martyrdom of Simon Danczuk'

Thursday 24 September 2015

'The martyrdom of Simon Danczuk'

Les May

SIMON Danczuk's bid to be seen as a martyr sacrificed to the 'extremists' in the Labour party needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt. He's hawked his story about 'far-left' supporters of Jeremy Corbyn trying to 'silence' him and drum him out of the party to Sky News, the Sun and the Daily Mail. Whether he has been paid for his comments we'll find out in a month or so when he next makes a declaration in the House of Commons Register of Members Interests.

Danczuk is a self proclaimed Labour 'moderate' which makes anyone who criticises him an 'extremist'. So what are Danczuk's 'moderate' policies which he thinks the Labour party should be following? They seem to consist of three things: break Labour's links with the Trades Unions; plug the funding gap by saying the sorts of things which the very wealthy will find comfortable thus ensuring they will make donations to the Labour party; talk about the policies which will generate a favourable write up in the Sun and the Daily Mail. Which leaves unanswered the question of just how Labour would differ from the Tories.

This recent flurry of activity by Danczuk seems to have its origins in the response to his promoting a Sun story about Corbyn and the IRA which had been retracted by The Times in 1987, in the discovery of an e-mail smearing Colin Lambert the ex-leader of Rochdale council which seems to have been sent by his aide Matt Baker and which is claimed to have originated in Danczuk's constituency office, and the fact that last Friday Heywood and Middleton’s constituency Labour party passed a motion agreeing to complain to the National Executive Committee about Danczuk's alleged conduct.

But don't write Danczuk off just yet. In the past he has shown a remarkable capacity for being able to pull a new rabbit from the hat when things begin to look a bit difficult. In May 2014 it was announced that he would give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee about what he had written about Cyril Smith in 'Smile for the Camera'. Danczuk said, 'he welcomed the opportunity to explain why he’d written the book'. He was still peddling this line in mid June.

But a week before he was due to appear on 1st, July he changed his tune and told the 'Independent on Sunday' that if he were asked by anyone on the Select Committee he would name a living parliamentarian as being involved in paedophilia. In the event out came his story that after a late vote a Tory minister stepped out of the shadows to confront him and warn him against doing so. And with a single bound he was free! That was the news next day. He no longer had to run the risk of an inquisitive MP asking him whether he had any proof of his assertions about Smith's activities.

In October 2014, I wrote to Danczuk to ask how many men he had interviewed before writing his book who claimed to have been abuse by Smith after the closure of Cambridge House in the mid 1960s. I'm still waiting for an answer. Later in the month one of the editors of Northern Voices put the same question to Danczuk and Baker after a book reading in the ill fated 'Danczuk's Deli'. Question still unanswered the fragrant Karen ushered him out of the door for his pains.

Anyone feel like starting a petition to press Danczuk for an answer?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3244928/Corbyn-purge-moderates-started-claims-Labour-MP-Simon-Danczuk-warns-concerted-effort-oust-him.html

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/6655209/Simon-Danczuk-warns-of-Jeremy-Corbyn-purge.html

http://www.sunnation.co.uk/corbynites-on-witch-hunt-to-purge-moderates-mp-claims/

http://news.sky.com/story/1557011/corbynites-are-on-witch-hunt-warns-labour-mp

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/607339/Jeremy-Corbyn-axe-MPs-Labour-Simon-Danczuk

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/98120/simon-danczuk-provokes-storm-of-criticism-for-wrongly-accusing-jeremy-corbyn-of-trying-to-support-terrorism

http://www.sunnation.co.uk/jeremy-corbyn-tried-to-fund-ira-bombers-flight/

https://www.change.org/p/the-labour-party-and-the-rochdale-constituency-offload-simon-danczuk-from-the-labour-party?recruiter=178516679&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive