Simon Danczuk: Protest organiser insists 'child protection' concerns are behind Rochdale rally

A deselection demonstration outside Simon Danczuk's constituency office is over "child protection" concerns and not about settling old political scores, according to one of the protest's organisers. Liz Thirsk, a former Liberal Democrat councillor, told IBTimes UK that the 4 January rally is "entirely about child protection" and "politics don't come into this".

Thirsk also said that many more people were expected to partake in the Rochdale protest despite just five confirming their attendance on Facebook.

Farooq Ahmed, a former Labour councillor who quit the party after being found guilty of making homophobic remarks against one of Danczuk's caseworkers in 2014, has also put his name down for the event. Ahmed unsuccessfully ran against Danczuk at the 2015 general election as a candidate for his Rochdale First group.

The demonstration, which is expected at 11am (GMT), will come after the disgraced Rochdale MP was exposed for sending sexually explicit messages to a 17-year-old girl who had applied for a job at his constituency office. Labour have since suspended Danczuk, a well-known Jeremy Corbyn critic, pending an investigation into his conduct.

The rise and fall of Simon Danczuk

"Younger women are my Achilles heel. My first wife was ten years younger than me, my second wife was 17 years younger, my last girlfriend is 17 years younger," the MP told The Sun. "Some men like older women, some like younger women, some like brunettes, some like blondes. I have a drink problem, and that is a major contributory reason why I sent the messages."

The Sunday Times has claimed that the party plans to permanently ban him over his behaviour, while Danczuk was forced to deny that he is a "sexual predator" after his first wife, Sonia Rossington, made the accusation to the Mail on Sunday.

"She is consumed by bitterness, is susceptible to drinking too much and is telling lies," Danczuk told the paper. The MP had previously made headlines for exposing the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith as a child sex abuser. Danczuk had not responded to a request for comment from IBTimes UK at the time of publication.