Baffling allure of scandalhit MP
admits. ‘I don’t really know much about Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, but I have started to watch the BBC Parliament channel – I used to love looking out for Simon on there. Maybe it’s something I will get into over time. I’m starting to learn.’
Instead, it seems that – Caesar salad aside – it was Danczuk’s ‘lovely blue eyes’ that sealed the deal for Charlene.
‘I am so physically attracted to him,’ she insists. ‘I love his eyes, and I love his smile.’ She pauses. ‘It is his personality that attracts me more than his physical appearance though,’ she adds, before laughing and saying: ‘He will kill me.’
Despite her professed lack of interest in politics, Charlene had done her homework before that first date.
As we have seen, there was a lot to tell: while Danczuk did some laudable work to help expose child abuse committed by his parliamentary predecessor, Cyril Smith, in Rochdale – work that significantly contributed to the subsequent decision by the Government to set up an independent inquiry – it is undoubtedly for his personal life that he has become rather better known.
Spanking aside, she says, Danczuk is a diehard romantic. ‘I like how he is with me,’ she continues. ‘He is so loving and he compliments me all of the time. He makes me feel special. He also treats me to lovely gifts, he sends me flowers and chocolates a lot. He has a great personality too, he is funny and very kind and very down to earth.’
Early dates were spent on long walks and at the cinema, while Danczuk also showed her his parliamentary office. ‘He made me breakfast, we went for long walks around London, we went to the cinema and he even showed me around Parliament and took me to his office.
‘Simon is a true romantic. It was then that I knew he was The One, that he makes me so happy.’ There are a couple of blots on the landscape, not least that Danczuk seems to be a bit of a slob at heart.
‘I did have to tidy his flat – he had loads of dirty dishes on the side that he hadn’t washed up so I did that for him,’ says Charlene. ‘I had a good tidy up, although he had managed to make the bed.’
Meanwhile, for a man who wooed her via the medium of food, it seems Danczuk is no chef either. ‘I’ve taught him how to poach an egg – he couldn’t do that before. Now he makes them all the time. I think it’s his favourite meal at the moment.’ Then there’s Danczuk’s dress sense, specifically what Charlene calls his predilection for ‘dad jeans’ and dubious Bermuda shorts, showcased on their recent sunshine holiday to Spain. ‘You should have seen some of them, they were horrendous. He had some flowery ones that I wouldn’t let him wear. I told him I wouldn’t go out with him wearing them,’ she says. ‘He needs to be a bit more updated, a bit more 2017.’ No doubt Charlene has got it in hand: as we have seen, relations appear to be moving on at quite a pace, although Danczuk’s changed status means the duo will not be able to fulfil his dream of marrying in the parliamentary chapel. ‘Simon was really keen to get married in the chapel but that won’t happen now,’ she says. They have, however, already looked at rings. ‘We went to look at some in London,’ reveals Charlene. ‘I found one that I loved with diamonds all around it and a big square one on it too. It was beautiful. I told Simon that’s the one I would like.’ Does Danczuk – who, of course, has lost his MP’s salary – have a budget? ‘No,’ Charlene laughs. ‘It was one of those expensive shops where they don’t have the prices on them – you have to ask. ‘But at least he knows the one I want and maybe he will surprise me with it soon.’ This would be Danczuk’s third marriage, making him not necessarily ideal husband material. What do her parents – who have yet to meet him – make of it? ‘My dad can see how happy I am,’ she insists. ‘He can see me smiling all of the time. ‘My mum is also really happy for me – she thinks the age gap is irrelevant. She did say she had read the stories in the papers about Simon and she asked if they were true. ‘I told her they were but Simon has put his hands up to his mistakes and bad decisions and he is paying the price for them. They’re both just really happy for me.’ Charlene is planning to introduce Simon to them shortly, and is convinced they will be as smitten as she is when she does. ‘Simon is misunderstood and when they meet him they will see that, and they will love him like I do.’ Time will be the judge of that, of course. In the meantime, it seems unlikely that this romance will unfold without some further drama, at least.