Simon Christopher Danczuk (/ˈdæntʃək/ DAN-chək; born 24 October 1966) is a British author and former Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the constituency of Rochdale between 2010 and 2017.

He began his working life at the age of sixteen in a factory making gas fires, before moving to the chemical company ICI.

In 1993, at the age of 27, he was elected as a councillor to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and served for six years, with portfolios including economic development and education.

[7] He received death threats during the selection process, including a funeral wreath with flowers spelling 'Simon' and a four-foot cross being anonymously sent to his work office.

Danczuk won the seat for Labour despite a microphone picking up Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling Rochdale resident Gillian Duffy a "bigoted woman" on a visit to the constituency during the campaign.

[13] Danczuk was re-elected as the Labour MP for Rochdale at the 2015 general election, substantially increasing his majority from 889 to 12,442 over the second-placed UKIP candidate.

[20] In a later separate statement, Danczuk referred to the rules as "vaguely worded"[20][21] and admitted error on his part, stating he would repay the money at the earliest available opportunity.

[26] Prime Minister David Cameron subsequently asked the Home Office Permanent Secretary to investigate what happened to the missing dossier.

The same month, Danczuk wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking for a review of the decision not to investigate certain historical allegations of sexual abuse made against senior Westminster politicians.

[28] During the investigation, it was revealed that former Liberal Party leader David Steel learned about Cyril Smith's behaviour in 1979, but did nothing about it, and later nominated him for a knighthood.

[29] For his investigative work on child abuse, Danczuk was named Campaigner of the Year by the Political Studies Association in November 2014,[30] and won the Contrarian Prize in June 2015.

[32] Danczuk apologised for his behaviour, which he described as "inappropriate and stupid", and said the incident occurred during an extremely low point of his life after his second marriage had collapsed.

[36] On the day he was nominated for the Rochdale election, he was accused of rape in the Westminster area of London, resulting in him receiving abuse online and on the streets.

[47][48] In 2022, he became engaged to Claudine Uwamahoro, a Rwandan beauty therapist whom he met on a business trip to Rwanda in March 2022,[49] and they married in July 2023.