According to the former Rochdale MP, the previous head of Labour’s parliamentary party cautioned that highlighting the ethnicity of grooming gangs may hurt the party’s prospects of winning elections.
Simon Danczuk, who served as the town’s representative from 2010 to 2017, said that Tony Lloyd, who was then running for Greater Manchester police and crime commissioner, “threatened” him.
In 2012, nine men were found guilty of rape and other offences, including sex trafficking. One was an Afghan asylum seeker, while the other eight were of British Pakistani descent.
Since then, 33 additional men have been found guilty, and Greater Manchester Police has expressed regret for not looking into previous claims more fully.
During his campaign, Mr. Danczuk brought whistleblowers before the Commons home affairs select committee to address the problem of Rochdale grooming gangs.
However, he said that Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary at the time, never asked him for guidance.
