Simon Danczuk tells Labour to remove Ken Livingstone from 'abuse of position' inquiry

Inquiry by Labour's ruling NEC could expel the Rochdale MP from the party altogether

Simon Danczuk (PA)

Simon Danczuk has told Labour to remove Ken Livingstone from the internal party inquiry that will decide whether to kick him out of the party.

The Rochdale MP was suspended from the party after claims he exchanged a series of sexually explicit text messages with a 17-year-old girl who had contacted him about a job in his constituency office.

The party's national ruling National Executive Committee will investigate whether he "abused" his position of power with his behaviour and could decide to expel Mr Danczuk from Labour for good.

But he has demanded that Mr Livingstone - a member of the NEC - be barred from taking part in the probe due to damning comments he made about him hours after reports of his behaviour surfaced.

Mr Livingstone, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, said he found it "bizarre" that Mr Danczuk had sent numerous "disturbing" messages to 17-year-old Sophena Houlihan "because he put himself at the centre of the investigation into sex abuse of young girls in his area".

He told the suspended MP to seek a relationship with someone his age rather than "someone in their late teens" and added: "Labour can't do anything that allows it to be seen as weak about child abuse."

But in his letter to General Secretary Iain McNicol, Labour's General Secretary, Mr Danczuk claims that these comments by Mr Livingstone's comments had prejudiced the inquiry into his behaviour.

“Soon after reports of this incident became public, Ken was quick to criticise me in the media," the letter, seen by the Daily Telegraph, says.

“He repeatedly made the link to child abuse...“I strongly deny any illegality in my actions.

"His comments were featured under critical headlines and clearly showed a prejudicial view of my case.

“Despite, voicing such trenchant criticism, he went on to say that ‘I can’t say too much because I’m on Labour’s NEC and might have to take the final decision about whether he’s allowed to resume his party membership or whether we expel him’.”

The letter finishes by saying: “With Ken Livingstone having clearly displayed a prejudiced view from the outset, could you give me your assurances that he will play no part in this investigation?"

In an interview at the weekend Mr Danczuk said he had sent the text messages to Ms Houlihan when he was drunk during a holiday in Spain and has apologised "unreservedly" for his behaviour.