Labour ‘wanted to COVER UP rape gang scandals’ – now I’m exposing those who ‘swept it under carpet’, says Rochdale MP
THE ex-Labour MP for Rochdale has claimed the party “wanted to cover up rape gang scandals” – and exposed those who “swept it under the carpet”.
Simon Danczuk was in the post when the news of a child sex abuse ring in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, first broke in 2012.
The politician has now claimed that the party deliberately turned a blind eye to elements of the scandal – and namechecked two former colleagues.
He also criticised the current Labour party under Keir Starmer for failing to launch a national inquiry into the sustained abuse – despite repeated calls to do so.
Writing in The Mail, the MP said: “It was a harrowing experience that revealed to me the strength of the Labour Party’s willingness to cover up the scandal in order to protect its support among local ethnic minorities.
“In effect, innocent young girls were sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. That cynical, opportunistic spirit still lingers on today, as exemplified by the Labour Government’s refusal to set up a national inquiry into this grim saga.”
Nine men were convicted of various sexual offences against young girls in May 2012 as part of a Pakistani abuse gang.
Investigations continue into the scandal – with over 40 perpetrators receiving convictions so far.
Over 40 young girls have so far been identified as victims – with crimes including sex trafficking, rape and conspiracy to commit sexual offences.
They predominantly originated from white, working-class backgrounds.
Mr Danczuk claimed that after the news broke in 2012, members of the local council tried to dissuade him from examining the details further.
He also alleged that during the subsequent trial, one of the directors at Rochdale Town Hall said the council would not proceed in cracking down on predatory groups before it was directed by the Home Office.
The politician, who has since joined Reform, said he believed that several colleagues were reluctant to act for fear of losing votes.
Jim Dobbin, for example, the MP for the neighbouring constituency of Heywood and Middleton, urged him not to suggest any connections between the abuse of girls and the local Muslim community, he claimed.
Meanwhile, Tony Lloyd, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, allegedly instructed him to “keep religion and race out of it”.
Mr Danczuk added that this indifference was reminiscent of the party’s attitude towards other grooming scandals during his time as MP.
He claimed to have discovered during the writing of his biography on Cyril Smith, a previous MP in his seat, a systemic cover-up of Smith’s abuse towards young boys.
He claimed that the culprits denied this after he challenged them.
On the current Labour leadership, Danczuk criticised the lack of a national inquiry into the rape gang scandal, saying the party had unfairly painted its proponents as “on the “far Right”.
The Rochdale ring was one of numerous grooming gangs operating across the UK between the 1980s and 2010s.
Labour MPs voting against rape gang inquiry is shameless – what are they trying to hide?
By Chris Philp
THE Labour government has just whipped its MPs to vote against a proper national inquiry into the rape gang scandal.
That shameful vote exposed their lack of both a backbone and anything resembling a moral compass.
The reason this whole sickening episode went on so long was that people in authority covered it up and brushed it under the carpet.
Now the Labour government risks doing exactly the same thing.
For years, people said it was “racist” or “Islamophobic” to point out the vast majority of the evil perpetrators were of British Pakistani background.
Starmer continued in that vein earlier this week by smearing as “far right” those who seek to defend the victims of these sick gangs and raise this issue.
It was exactly that kind of language that led to all this being covered up in the first place.
When I pointed this out in Parliament on Monday, many Labour MPs opposite booed me.
The mother of a young girl who committed suicide after being groomed and raped said she was “completely disgusted” by their behaviour when she saw the footage.
You can understand why. Girls as young as 11 or 12 were systematically raped by organised gangs for years.
Some of those in authority did nothing — or even actively covered it up.
Local councils, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service all failed the young victims over years.
We have heard from former Labour MP for Rochdale, Simon Danczuk, that the then-chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party told him to keep the allegations quiet to avoid losing Muslim votes.
Labour should hang their head in shame and apologise. They won’t, of course.
In Rotherham, Yorkshire, an estimated 1,400 girls, many from care homes, suffered abuse at the hands of the criminal groups.
And statistics show that children are still being targeted by abusers – as 717 sexual abuse cases were recorded in 2023 across England and Wales, and 572 in the first nine months of 2024.
But senior party members have repeatedly clashed on the issue of whether to have an inquiry.
This month, culture secretary Lisa Nandy slapped down Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s call for a “limited national inquiry,” warning victims had already waited too long for action.
She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I do disagree with Andy actually.
“The reason that the Theresa May government set up a national inquiry, which ran for seven years and took evidence from thousands of victims, is precisely because of the points that Andy made.
“That inquiry found what every inquiry has found, that young girls weren’t believed because they were young, they were female, and they were working class, and that the systems that were supposed to protect them protected themselves instead of protecting those brave young victims.”
Burnham was joined by Labour MP Dan Carden, who represents Liverpool Walton, last week, who broke rank to come out in support of an inquiry.
The Sun has contacted Labour and the Home Office for comment.