Northern Voices: David Rose

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Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Who is the real Karen Danczuk?

AS Karen Danczuk, the estranged wife of Simon Danczuk MP for Rochdale, was pictured last week in The Sun newspaper entering La Belle beauty parlour in leafy Cheadle, Stockport, she said 'My healing starts now'. She followed this up by branding her own 38-year-old brother, Michael Burke, a 'selfish coward' and declaring 'I hope he rots in jail'. Mr. Burke had just been sentenced to 15-years on eight counts of rape and one indecent assault against his sister and two other women who cannot be named. Mrs. Burke had previously told The Sun, 'My brother is a monster for raping me'. She had told the jury the abuse perpetrated by her brother had ruined her schooling, left her incapable of love and intimacy and that she struggles with depression and anxiety. Those of our readers who may not had seen Karen Danczuk, who is said to be a regular panelist on ITV's 'Loose Women', and has performed on 'Bear Grylls', may care to peruse the colourful detailed report below in The Sun's rival newspaper The Mail on Sunday published in July 2015:
'claim of threats to kill ...' - The Danczuk's Dark Side!
Simon Danczuk and estranged wife Karen and a 'claim of threats to kill ...'

www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Disturbing-questions-Simon-Danczuk-crusades-against-abuse...

Dark side of the Danczuks: A Spanish family holiday suddenly abandoned. A text that read: ‘I’m scared.’ A claim of threats to kill... Disturbing questions about the MP who crusades against abuse

By David Rose for The Mail on Sunday

PUBLISHED: 22:06, 11 July 2015 | UPDATED: 13:50, 12 July 2015

It’s not often I say this but I’m scared,’ said the midnight text that Karen Burke sent to her mother, Sue, from Spain. ‘Who knows how long I’ll have to stay in [the] airport for? I can’t believe he’s done this!’ It was very late on August 25, 2008, and Karen’s future husband Simon Danczuk was about to dump her, their infant son, Milton, and her seven-year-old niece Eboni at Alicante airport after a titanic holiday row – without airline tickets or enough money to get home.

Soon to be elected as Rochdale’s Labour MP, Mr Danczuk would later become famous as a scourge of child abusers. But that day at Alicante after an evening of escalating conflict with his partner, he seemed ready to leave both Karen and the children to their fates. They were forced to wait at the airport all night while her family in Rochdale desperately tried to arrange and pay for flights home for them the next day.

Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal disturbing new details of this incident – and of contemporary statements about it drawn up for a secretive Labour Party inquiry. These alleged that although he was apparently provoked, Mr Danczuk not only abandoned but physically assaulted his partner.

The inquiry was held not to decide whether Mr Danczuk had attacked Karen but whether those who claimed he had, by so doing so had brought the party into disrepute. It ruled in Mr Danczuk’s favour and five party members were expelled. Interviewed by this newspaper last week, some of the statements’ authors – close members of Simon and Karen Danczuk’s families – insisted they stand by what they said, and they remain certain they are relating the story as Karen told it to them.

Mr Danczuk has always denied the row became violent and that he assaulted Karen. Afterwards, they were reconciled and she now also denies the claims of an assault. She told Rochdale Online that she was distressed by the accusation, describing it as ‘very offensive’. And Mr Danczuk slammed the allegations as ‘vicious mischief making’, adding that they were ‘totally untrue and absolute nonsense’.

But even if the allegations of violence were exaggerated, it is clear they emerged directly from what Karen told her family that night and during the following day. The incident raises disturbing questions about the volatility of the couple’s subsequent marriage – which recently juddered to a very public halt. Our investigation comes as the Sunday Mirror today reports bizarre claims that Mrs Danczuk considered paying a lapdancer £1,000 to sleep with her husband in an attempt to end their marriage. Today we can reveal that:

For more go to

www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Disturbing-questions-Simon-Danczuk-crusades-against-abuse...

Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Domestic Tiffs in Ambridge & Rochdale

Rochdale's Liberals 'Lend Credibility to Spurious Tabloid Tales'

AS the residents of Ambridge in the Archers on Radio Four grapple with the domestic conflicts of Rob and Helen; in Rochdale last week the former Labour Councillor Martin Burke reminded us of the domestic difficulties in the private life of Simon Danczuk MP for Rochdale in his letter to the Rochdale Observer. In this letter on the 6th, April, the now Mr. Martin Burke put up an heroic defence of Simon Danczuk, in which he suggested that the Liberal Democrat Councillor Andy Kelly had 'claimed recent publicity surrounding Mr. Danczuk's private life is to blame all of Rochdale's ills'.
The situation in Ambridge between Helen and Rob may well border on the melodramatic with Rob in hospital with a collapsed lung and a severed bowel, but the situation in Rochdale with what the Mail on Sunday journalist, David Rose, entitled 'The dark side of the Danczuk's' and other aspects of curious behavior involving the honourable Member for Rochdale, has reduced politics in the town to the realm of Comic Opera.
Martin Burke's letter supporting Simon Danczuk in the Rochdale Observer merely reinforces the image of comedy: For the a feature article in the Mail on Sunday last July by David Rose headlined 'The dark side of the Danczuk's: A Spanish family holiday suddenly abandoned' Martin Burke is alleged to have confirmed that his daughter Karen had 'appeared to be bruised on her return' from a holiday in Spain in 2008 with her then partner Mr. Simon Danczuk, who was at that time the Labour candidate in the Rochdale constituency.
On the 12th, July 2015, David Rose wrote in the Mail on Sunday:

'Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal disturbing new details of this incident – and of contemporary statements about it drawn up for a secretive Labour Party inquiry. These alleged that although he was apparently provoked, Mr Danczuk not only abandoned but physically assaulted his partner.'
What was the evidence for this?
Simon Danczuk himself has always denied that the tiff became violent and that he assaulted his then partner, Karen Burke, the daughter of Martin Burke.
The story in last July's Mail on Sunday reveals the evidence of one witness:

'Martin Burke yesterday confirmed to me that Karen appeared to be bruised on her return. Her mother, Sue, told me the same. ‘I’m only sorry I didn’t take photos,’ she said. ‘On the phone, she told me he’d attacked her. Yet the day after she got home, she was going on about how it was lies.'

Can this be the same Martin Burke who is now condemning the Liberal Democrat, Andy Kelly for 'vilifying Mr Danczuk'?
No wonder Les May in his letter below responding to Martin Burke's letter is expressing bewilderment.

This link may be worth including in any preamble that you write.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3157459/Disturbing-questions-Simon-Danczuk-crusades-against-abuse.html

Letter to the editor of the Rochdale Observer (9th, April 2016):

Dear Editor,

As a lifelong Labour voter it pains me to have to point out that Andy

Kelly seems more in tune with what people think about Mr Danczuk's

behaviour since he became the town's MP than Martin Burke appears to be.

As for the 'spurious tabloid tales' which Mr Burke refers to he should

note that it is not Mr Kelly who was suspended by his party for

'inappropriate' texts sent to a young woman; it is not Mr Kelly who has

been told to pay back £11,000 of parliamentary expenses he claimed but

was not entitled to; it is not Mr Kelly who financially benefited from

one of those 'tabloid tales'. Need I go on?

And if Mr Kelly is taking advantage of Mr Danczuk's fall from grace

should we be surprised? After all throughout the summer of 2014 we were

regularly treated to attempts to smear the Lib-Dems with regard to the

thirty five year old story of Cyril Smith's antics at Cambridge House,

until it was pointed out that at the time Smith was a member of the

Labour party and that the late Mr Roger Chadwick had gone on record as

saying that he told the Labour agent about Smith's behaviour at the

time.

Had Mr Burke not felt the urge to respond, Mr Kelly's comments would

have been forgotten. Now they have been given a new lease of life. Or

was that the idea all along?

Les May

Monday, 4 January 2016

The Incontinent Indiscretions of Simon Danczuk

by Les May

ON Saturday 9 December my local paper ran a story headed 'Online "death threat" to Syria air strikes MP'. The MP in question was Simon Danczuk and he said he had reported the threat to the police. Hopefully he did this before reporting it to the press.

If I appear mildly sceptical about this story it's because we have heard nothing more about it. The police take things like this extremely seriously and a couple of days ago Craig Wallace was jailed for making an online threat to Bristol North MP Charlotte Leslie after the Syria vote.

In the same article the ever imaginative Mr D. accused John McDonnell of making a 'veiled threat' against him. It seems that speaking to the Momentum group McDonnell had said, 'Simon is Simon... you just have to work with him. Eventually we'll resolve the matter.' and 'In an amicable way I will convince him to my way of thinking.'

Danczuk's take on this was that McDonnell's comments were 'undeniably sinister' and 'I regard what he said and how he said it (was he there?) as a veiled threat'. What should have worried Simon was that his name was greeted with laughter from the audience.

Since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in September Mr D has worked hard to construct the myth that he was always on the point of being kicked out of the Labour party for his constant attacks on Corbyn. In spite of the level of grassroots support for this, Corbyn and his closest allies must have realised that such a move would be taken as confirmation that the party had been taken over by extremists intolerant of criticism.

In this Danczuk was egged on by both the Sun and the Daily Mail which were ever ready to give him a platform for his attacks on Corbyn. Whether he actually wrote the articles himself we do not know, but presumably he was well paid for his name being at the top of them.

This strategy of trying to force the Labour party to self destruct in a barrage of recriminations did not work. Far from it. As the Mail article of 24 October made clear, when Simon met Jeremy the previous Wednesday the meeting was entirely cordial. Corbyn seems to have leant over backwards to extend a friendly hand to Danczuk. This patient approach began to pay off. As Nigel Morris of the Independent pointed out on New Year's day, 'His open and indiscriminate defiance of Mr Corbyn dismayed right-leaning supporters, who feared he was becoming a joke figure ... '

But all this came crashing down on New Year's Eve when, having served as a 'useful idiot' for the Sun and Mail Danczuk found himself front page news and being described by these same papers in terms not dissimilar to those he had been happy to use about Cyril Smith when trying to paint him as a predatory paedophile.

If we dispense with the 'post facto rationalisation' indulged in by the media Danczuk's 'crime' was that he responded to unsolicited texts from a young woman with replies containing sexual innuendo. They read to me like an extremely clumsy attempt at flirting. As one might expect the media reports see his antics in a different light. The text messages were 'vile'. The young woman has become a 'young girl'.

In fact she was seventeen and judging by the amount of cleavage showing on her Twitter page certainly doesn't think of herself as a child. According to the Daily Record her replies to his overtures included her saying she was 'turned on' and imagining 'moaning' Mr Danczuk’s name. The Sunday Mirror carried an article telling readers that she was a self described 'financial dominatrix' operating over the web who greeted clients with the phrase 'Hello Piggy Losers', before enticing men into becoming her 'money slaves', 'cash cows' and 'pay pigs'. It is hardly a picture of childlike innocence which emerges!

But all this presents a dilemma for his party. Labour had to act and to be seen to act decisively. They've done that by suspending him from the party and withdrawing the whip which means he will have to sit as an Independent. In six to eight weeks he will have to appear before the National Executive and explain himself. Whether a charge that he exploited his position as a potential employer whilst exchanging texts full of sexual innuendo with someone under the age of 18 could be made to stick I'm sceptical. Much will depend upon the wording of the first texts the pair exchanged.

What is clear it that Danczuk is a fool who showed himself to be completely incapable of exercising proper judgement. The best (and worst if one is wishes to avoid moralising) that one can say about his antics is that his behaviour was 'inappropriate'. But that's quite sufficient to allow a charge of 'bringing the party into disrepute'.

Danczuk 'has form' when it comes to accusations of 'bringing the party into disrepute'. The difference is that this time he will be the accused not the one making the complaint.

On 11 July this year the Mail on Sunday carried an article by David Rose headed '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... Disturbing questions about the MP who crusades against abuse'. The incident reported by Rose led to five long serving members of Rochdale Labour party being expelled and two suspended after they wrote to the local paper in late 2008 saying that the matter should be investigated.

Unsurprisingly one of those expelled is calling for Danczuk to be dumped by the Rochdale party, and for the role of the North West Regional Labour Party in disciplining the seven members to be looked at again in the light of recent events.

It would be fitting if this did happen but it may not be the wisest course of action. Already we have Tory MPs claiming that Danczuk has been 'stitched up like a kipper by the Corbyn cronies' and that he has been suspended for being a critic of Corbyn. And whilst the Sun and Mail as the finest representatives of the 'street of shame' may have lovingly served up Danczuk for our delectation, if he is unceremoniously dumped he could become an instant martyr for them if they so choose.

It may be better for Labour to keep him at arms length for as long as possible without actually sacking him. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror former girlfriend Claire Hamilton said he had vowed to stand as an Independent but not do any campaigning if his career was threatened. She added:
'He said he wanted to make sure Labour lost the seat he won for them.'

Even at the risk of prolonging the agony the Labour party needs to conduct a thorough investigation into the bizarre events involving death threats and wreaths which occurred at the time of Danczuk's selection as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Rochdale in 2007, his involvement in all the events leading up to the expulsion of five members of the Rochdale Labour party in 2009, and whether his constituency office or anyone employed by him had any involvement in using Cavendish Media to promote a video which falsely purported to show Rochdale Labour Councillor Farooq Ahmed smoking cannabis in 2011, and/or in the circulation of an e-mail smearing the then Leader of Rochdale Council Colin Lambert in November 2012.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/30/man-jailed-for-online-threat-to-mp-who-voted-for-syria-airstrikes

http://www.dailymail.cho.uk/news/article-3244928/Corbyn-purge-moderates-started-claims-Labour-MP-Simon-Danczuk-warns-concerted-effort-oust-him.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3250583/The-party-love-deluded-bullying-cult-Labour-MP-SIMON-DANCZUK-slams-Corbyn-s-Hard-Left-crowd-pleasing-syrup.html http://www.sunnation.co.uk/corbynites-on-witch-hunt-to-purge-moderates-mp-claims/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3288055/Corbyn-night-President-XI-boring-SIMON-DANCZUK-got-hauled-leader-MoS-columns-result-best-one-yet.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/6831118/Labour-MP-Simon-Danczuk-sends-sleazy-texts-to-young-girl.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-3380150/Simon-Danczuk-suspended-Labour-Party-amid-sex-text-allegations.html

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/sex-text-teen-tells-simon-7101370

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teenager-sexted-shamed-mp-simon-7109909

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUY3T5Di0kM

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/100150/simon-danczuk-suspended-from-the-labour-party

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35204398

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3157459/Disturbing-questions-Simon-Danczuk-crusades-against-abuse.html

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/100159/mick-coats-one-of-the-rochdale-seven-calls-for-rochdale-constituency-labour-party-to-get-rid-of-danczuk