Former MP quits party as candidates line up
SIMON Danczuk has torn up his party card – as Labour prepared to announce their Rochdale candidate with party veteran Tony Lloyd considered by many the front-runner.
The party was set on Monday night to name its choice to fight for the general election.
However it remains to be seen whether Simon Danczuk will fight to hold onto the seat as an independent - after being banned by party bosses.
On Monday Mr Danczuk posted a copy of his resignation letter from Labour as the party mulled its replacement to fight for the seat.
The letter, addressed to party bosses, takes a swipe at recent comments made by shadow chancellor John McDonnell regarding Marx and claims that Labour is no longer ‘a positive political movement’.
He adds: “I am also concerned that the Labour Party has shown itself not to have the interests of Rochdale at heart.
“The way in which the party are treating the Parliamentary seat of Rochdale as a ‘safe seat’ in which they can simply parachute a Corbyn supporting candidate is deplorable.
“The people of Rochdale deserve so much more than being treated with such disdain.”
It follows a decision by the party to bar the incumbent Mr Danczuk from being their candidate on June 8.
Mr Danczuk, a prominent critic of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who has held the town’s seat since 2010, has been suspended by the party since 2015 after a tabloid newspaper claimed that he had sent explicit texts to a 17-year-old girl.
Mr Danczuk has described the story as “not entirely accurate” but has apologised, referring to “an extremely low point” in his life.
The candidates were being interviewed at Labour’s HQ in London on Monday and the winner was due to be announced on Monday evening.
The front runner is said to be former Police and Crime Commissioner of Greater Manchester Tony Lloyd, one of the Labour party’s most senior figures and a former chair of the party.
He was MP for Stretford and then Manchester Central for over three decades until 2012.
Mr Danczuk is threatening to stand as an independent candidate if Labour don’t choose the ‘right person’ to fight Rochdale.
He previously told our sister paper the M.E.N: “If they choose the right person to be a Labour candidate in Rochdale then I will walk away.
“I will still be involved in politics and in Rochdale, because it’s my home.
“But I won’t contest the general Election.”
Mr Danczuk, who was elected to the Rochdale seat for a second time in 2015 with a record majority of more than 12,000, has previously spoken of his disappointment at being banned from standing and accused a ‘cabal of Corbynites’ of ‘exacting revenge for my criticism of Jeremy Corbyn’.
A number of candidates are also understood to be on the short list.
They include: Castleton councillor Aashim Rashid, Middleton councillor Chris Furlong and former Lib Dem councillor Mark Birkett, who joined the Labour Party in 2015.
Also thought to be in the running are Tameside GP Kailash Chanda and GP and councillor Dr Azahid Chuhan.