People think Harriet Harman is 'a f*****g knob' says Labour MP Simon Danczuk

The Rochdale MP said his party's deputy leader was bringing politics into disrepute

Harriet Harman

The public think Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman is a “f*****g knob”, one of the party’s MPs has claimed.

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale, argued that a recent defence of Ed Miliband by Ms Harman amounted to “double speak” and that she had brought politics into disrepute.

“Harriet Harman came out and said [Ed Miliband] was right to pose with the Sun newspaper and he was right to apologise for posing with the Sun newspaper,” Mr Danczuk told the New Statesman magazine.

“And it’s that sort of double speak from politicians: how could he be right on both counts? That turns people off politics. So when somebody hears a politician say that, you know what they think, if you pardon the language: ‘what a f*****g knob’.”

Simon Danczuk said he was feeling 'emotional' when he made the comments (Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)

The MP was referring to an incident in which Mr Miliband drew criticism for posing for a photograph with a copy of The Sun newspaper.

The newspaper is particularly unpopular in the Labour heartland of Liverpool because of its role in the aftermath of the Hillsborough football ground tragedy, in which 96 people died.

Shortly after the interview was published Mr Danczuk tweeted that he had been feeling "emotional" when he made the comments and appeared to disown them.

"That [New Statesman] interview does not fully reflect my views. We all have off days. I'd had a very difficult day & was feeling emotional," he wrote.

Mr Danczuk also said that Labour leader Ed Miliband was seen as "more of a toff than David Cameron" by the public.

The attack of Ms Harman comes after claims last month by Mr Danczuk's wife, Karen Danczuk, that Ms Harman told her she was "too pretty" to be in politics.

Ms Harman totally rejected the accusation at the time, telling MailOnline: "I deny I ever said that and it’s inconceivable I would have ever said that."

Ms Danczuk is a Labour councillor for the Kingsway ward in Rochdale.

In December last year Mr Danczuk denied rumours he was set to leave the Labour party to join Ukip after pictures emerged of him having a drink with the right-wing party’s leader Nigel Farage.