Tolerating Danczuk in the Labour Party?

by Les May

THE report in yesterday’s Evening Standard gossip column about Simon Danczuk’s continuing suspension from the Labour party should be taken with a pinch of salt.  Again Simon is telling us about his understanding what Labour party officials had decided.  We had the same sort of story just after New Year when he told the Manchester Evening News, the Daily Mirror and the Rochdale Observer that 'Labour has "no choice" but to accept him back into the party in the new year' and 'I’ve met with chief whip Nick Brown and he says there’s no case to answer.'

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/simon-danczuks-snare-of-self-delusion.html 

Clearly the NEC members thought they did have a choice.

It suits Danczuk to have someone write he’s ‘never been on good terms with the Corbyn gang’.  It lets him pose as the innocent victim of a stitch up by Corbyn and his supporters.  And it lets him elevate himself to the status of a man of ideas by being thought of as a ‘critic’.

Now it’s certainly true that there are Corbyn supporters, probably quite a lot, who were happy to see him suspended and would like to see him expelled from the party.  But, and it’s an important ‘but’, it wasn’t Corbyn who suspended him from the party it was the NEC and the events surrounding the 2016 leadership contest to not suggest that august body is packed out with Corbynites.

Far from Labour having ‘no choice’ but to reinstate him the truth is that Labour had ‘no choice’ but to suspend him over the sexting incident.

As I made very clear in my first comments about this incident in Northern Voices on 4 January 2016 I did not regard it as very shocking.  Sleazy Yes!  Stupid Yes! Shocking No!

 http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-incontinent-indiscretions-of-simon.html  

The whole thing seemed to me like an extremely clumsy attempt at flirting by a lonely man with nothing better to do with his time.  But as one might expect the media reports saw his antics in a different light.  The text messages were 'vile'.  The young woman, who it turned out was a ‘financial dominatrix’, had become a 'young girl'.

Had Labour not suspended him it would appear that the party was condoning the sort of behaviour towards someone who was technically a ‘child’, which Danczuk had made his reputation condemning.  To save itself a mauling in the ‘holier than thou’ tabloids Labour had to suspend him.

But casting Simon in the role ‘collateral damage’ like this does not get him off the hook.  The public expect people in public life to have some sense of decency; some sense of how to behave.  In spite of what Danczuk would have us believe this is not about ‘morality’ or ones ‘moral’ view about what he gets up to.

In my professional life had I been found to be to have been exchanging sexually explicit texts with a young woman of 17, serious questions would have been asked about my suitability to remain in my post.  The same questions about my suitability to continue in my job would have been asked if I had kicked in a glass door which shattered and shards of which fell on my ex-wife causing her to have injuries needing more than 40 stitches.

Had I been found to be ‘bonking’ a young woman half my age it would no doubt have drawn adverse comment.  In which case I would have felt justified in suggesting that the speaker should mind their own business.  But, and it’s an another important ‘but’, had I been found to have been using my office for the assignation, I would have been sacked.

I would also have been sacked if I had claimed £11,000 in expenses to which I had no entitlement.  No one would have given me the benefit of the doubt if I had tried to claim that it was all down to poor wording of the rules about what could be claimed.  I would have been out, probably with my pension rights rescinded.

I expect Danczuk to be treated in the same way that other people in responsible positions would be treated.  And I am not alone.

Simon Danczuk's snare of self delusion

by Les May

THE snare of self delusion is one to which we all have a tendency to fall prey, though it is a trait which seems much better developed in some people than in others.  Kept to ourselves it may appear to others merely as misplaced ambition.  Shared too often with others and it may gain us the accolade of ‘bullshitter’.  If you find the term a little indelicate then in my defence I should point out that it has a respectable philosophical pedigree and been the subject of academic study.
https://www.stoa.org.uk/topics/bullshit/pdf/on-bullshit.pdf

These musings were prompted after reading Simon Danczuk’s latest outpourings to the Manchester Evening News and repeated in the Rochdale Observer and Daily Mirror.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/suspended-mp-simon-danczuk-claims-12382981

According to Simon 'Labour has "no choice" but to accept him back into the party in the new year' and backs it up with 'I’ve met with chief whip Nick Brown and he says there’s no case to answer.'  Big mistake Simon!

Now we don’t know what was actually said at the meeting because we only have Simon’s version to go on.  But I don’t imagine that he has made a friend of Nick Brown by immediately reporting a private conversation to the press.  At best it looks like an attempt to put pressure on the Labour party and put Nick Brown in the position of seeming to be at odds with its decision making process if Danczuk does not get his own way immediately.

He then stands reality on its head by going on to say '… it’s taken so long because I have been a vocal critic of the leadership.'  No Simon!  It’s because of your attacks on Corbyn that you have not been kicked out of the party long ago.  

Confrontation isn’t Corbyn’s style.  When he made an effort to be conciliatory towards Simon and listen to his complaints,  just as after his conversation with Nick Brown, Simon rushed off to tell his story to the press.  The only difference being that as his name was on that article he presumably turned it into a ‘nice little earner’.  
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

Corbyn is astute enough to know that if he is going to unite the Labour party kicking out a self styled critic will only give credibility to him.  The first time Simon tried to talk up his own importance in October 2015 just after Corbyn was elected, John McDonnell dismissed his threat to launch a leadership challenge, with the words 'That's Simon being Simon.'
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/simon-danczuk-threatens-topple-jeremy-6700810

Within days of Danczuk being suspended from the Labour party for what he later admitted was ‘inappropriate behaviour’, he was blaming his actions on a ‘drink problem’ and facing a police inquiry regarding a rape allegation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35204398
https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/937605/simon-danczuk-breaks-silence-on-sex-text-shame-i-was-drunk-horny-and-alone/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/04/labour-mp-simon-danczuk-facing-police-inquiry-rape-allegation

That didn’t stop him threatening legal action against the party within a fortnight and demanding an explanation for action ‘detrimental to his reputation’.  Who says lawyers don’t have a sense of humour?  
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/16/simon-danczuk-threatens-legal-action-over-labour-suspension

Things didn’t improve for him in February when the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) launched an investigation into a complaint over expenses claimed for having his children stay at his London second home.  Expenses that, in the view of the complainant, he was not entitled to.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/01/simon-danczuk-investigation-mps-expenses-rochdale-ipsa
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/labour-mps-expenses/12118816/Investigation-opens-into-suspended-Labour-MP-Simon-Danczuks-expense-claims.html

Or March when IPSA reported:  'The compliance officer must also conclude that this was done knowing that there was no reasonable prospect of the children staying at the accommodation'.
Simon agreed to repay more than £11,000.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/18/simon-danczuk-labour-agrees-repay-expenses
http://parliamentarycompliance.org.uk/transparency/ClosedInvestigations/2015-16/Danczuk%20Simon/2016-03-18%20-%20Danczuk%20Simon%20-%20Statement%20of%20Provisional%20Findings.pdf

At much the same time came the announcement:  ‘Police confirm they are looking into allegation of fraud over money claimed for children.’
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/simon-danczuk-police-investigate-expenses-10993622

All this still left him time to interfere in the internal politics of Bangladesh.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/24/bangladesh-government-angered-simon-danczuk-sanctions


Simon was just as busy generating adverse publicity in April when The Sun ran a piece with the heading of ‘Expenses cheat Simon Danczuk now using taxpayers’ cash to pay ex-wife Karen to work for him’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/politics/1135202/expenses-cheat-simon-danczuk-now-using-taxpayers-cash-to-pay-ex-wife-karen-to-work-for-him/
Things did not improve in June.  The Sun ran a story with the header 'Shamed Simon Danczuk claimed money for ‘crisis management’ after The Sun exposed his sordid texts to teenage girl https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1352498/shamed-simon-danczuk-claimed-money-for-crisis-management-after-the-sun-exposed-his-sordid-texts-to-teenage-girl/
And the Zelo Street blog claimed to know who get the money for the ‘crisis management’.   http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/simon-danczuks-consultant-revealed.html
But he did get a richly deserved reward in June when he it was announced that he was to have a building named after him. http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/more-crappy-behaviour-surrounding.html
In August Simon got lucky, really lucky.  After a family row at their ‘gaffe’ in Spain ex-wife Karen emerged from hospital with some forty stitches in a her upper chest caused by Simon kicking in a glass door, parts or all of which fell on Karen.  Serious though this was, it could have been much worse and possibly fatal, if one of those pieces of glass had severed a blood vessel.  That was his first stroke of luck.
The second was that Karen did not press charges.  If she had he would have emerged from court as a ‘wife beater’ and, thick skinned though he is, even he would have had to resign or be expelled from the Labour party.  His third stroke of luck was that ‘harridan tendency’ in the Labour party, which usually has a lot to say about real and imaginary violence against women, were obviously on holiday that week and could not find time to comment. http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/danczuks-in-boozy-bust-up.html  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1623573/karen-puts-injured-chest-under-wraps-as-she-heads-off-to-tell-court-to-free-mp-hubby/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1629869/karen-danczuk-spotted-with-gruesome-wounds-after-waiter-bust-up-with-estranged-hubby-simon/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1646861/karen-danczuk-says-shes-scarred-for-life-after-mp-hubby-simon-kicked-in-glass-door-during-crazed-bust-up-on-family-holiday/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1636054/mp-simon-danczuk-faces-second-police-investigation-for-attacking-his-ex-wife-on-holiday-in-spain/

This incident had some remarkable parallels with what had happened between the couple in Spain eight years earlier:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3157459/Disturbing-questions-Simon-Danczuk-crusades-against-abuse.html

Throughout much of October Danczuk was embroiled in a dispute with the Greater Manchester Police Federation over ill considered remarks he had made over the investigation into claims of sexual abuse at Knowl View special school.
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/danczuk-having-realistic-chance-of.html
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/danczuk-given-ultimation-to-cough-up-by.html
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/tonightm-danczuk-in-lions-den.html
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/dodger-danczuk-doesnt-deliver.html

This spilled over into November and raised questions about Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd’s unwillingness either to praise his officers for the investigation of events at Knowl View or condemn Simon Danczuk for his comments.
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/tony-lloyd-pcc-is-there-conflict-of.html

If you listen to Simon he is full of stories about the support he gets from his local party and his constituents.  But lets face it so that does not count for much.  To judge from things which occasionally pop into my ‘Inbox’ his actual support only extends about as far as Labour Leader Richard Farnell’s remit runs.

Simon’s view seems to be that because the investigation into the rape allegation have been concluded and he has not been charged, his other antics during the past year should be ignored and the Labour party should lift his suspension.  What he conveniently forgets is that there is still the small matter of the Metropolitan Police investigation into whether the claims he made for his children residing with him at his London house constitute fraud.

Like the rest of us he will just have to wait and see.