Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP who was suspended after being caught sending sexual text messages to a 17-year-old girl, has threatened to take legal action against the party over its conduct during the investigation into his behaviour.

The MP for Rochdale sent a legal letter to Iain McNicol, the party’s general secretary, on Friday which claimed he had received no explanation for his suspension or been told how long it would last.

Written by the legal firm Bindmans and seen by the Guardian, the letter says the suspension is damaging Danczuk’s career. It warns that he could take further action unless the firm is told within three working days which rules have been broken and how a subsequent inquiry will proceed.

The solicitors also demand that the party remove Ken Livingstone from any role in the investigation, after the former London mayor commented on Danczuk’s behaviour to the media.

The letter has enraged senior Labour party figures, who suspended Danczuk’s membership and withdrew the parliamentary party whip. They did so hours after the Sun revealed that Danczuk had exchanged messages via social media with Sophena Houlihan.

Party officials said they could not comment on Danczuk’s suspension because he was also being investigated by police over a historical rape allegation, an allegation the MP rejects.

Danczuk, who has played a leading role in the fight to expose historical child sex abuse, allegedly told Houlihan he was “horny” and asked if she wanted “spanking”. The MP, who was suspended by his party on New Year’s Eve, said at the time that his behaviour had been inappropriate, stupid and fuelled by excessive alcohol consumption. The 49-year-old apologised to anyone he had let down. “There’s no fool like an old fool,” he said.

In the letter, Danczuk’s solicitors claim his suspension, a few hours after the article was published, was “premature and punitive”, and that any inquiry could have been conducted while he remained a party member. It also claims he has not been told how long the suspension will last and he has not yet been contacted by the party’s head of disputes and disciplinary action. The letter says his suspension “is detrimental to his career and reputation”.

“The continuing absence to even particularise the allegations against Mr Danczuk, the rules which are said to have been broken by the conduct alleged, or the process by which these issues will be investigated should now be clarified urgently, and we require this clarification within three working days following your receipt of this letter,” Danczuk’s solicitors write.



The letter goes on to demand that Livingstone, who is on Labour’s national executive committee, is suspended from any role in the inquiry. He told listeners to LBC radio that the texts had been “really disturbing”. “Any involvement of Mr Livingstone in the disciplinary process would be prejudicial and indicative of a fundamentally unfair process,” it says.



Labour sources said any inquiry into Danczuk’s behaviour could focus on claims in the Sun article that Houlihan was a constituent who had asked about the possibility of a job in politics. Danczuk could then be accused of breaching his duty of care to a potential employee, it has been claimed. But friends of Danczuk claim that the MP had no duty of care over Houlihan, and say that no job offer was discussed.



Last week, Danczuk was interviewed under caution by police in connection with a rape allegation dating back to 2006. He has said the accusation is malicious and untrue. It has been also disclosed that Danczuk made more than £40,000 from media work over the last year, some of which he received for writing articles attacking Jeremy Corbyn. He has also received payments for tipping off a picture agency about photo opportunities involving himself which are then sold on to newspapers.

Danczuk has been a thorn in Corbyn’s side, having called for the Labour leader to stand down and offered himself as a stalking horse candidate to depose him.

A Labour spokesperson said: “Simon Danczuk’s membership of the party remains suspended. It would not be appropriate for the Labour party to comment further while there is an ongoing police investigation.”