Suspended MP Simon Danczuk wants to stand for Labour in election

The MP has admitted his sending "sexual texts" to a 17 year old was "wholly inappropriate"

Suspended Labour MP Simon Danczuk said he expects to be the party's Rochdale candidate in the general election.

Mr Danczuk, 50, was suspended in 2015, pending an investigation, following revelations he exchanged explicit messages with a 17-year-old girl.

He currently serves as an independent MP but has asked Labour's head office about having his hearing held in time to him stand for the party on 8 June.

Labour said the hearing's timeline has yet to be decided.

Mr Danzcuk said: "I hope and expect to fight the general election for Labour in Rochdale on 8 June.

"I don't take anything for granted but I go round talking to the people of Rochdale regularly, and they say they have faith in me.

"I have a strong track record."

Campaign work

Labour's National Executive Committee conducts investigations.

Regarding Mr Danczuk, the party said: "The process for selecting candidates in all our seats, including Rochdale, will begin shortly."

Mr Danczuk, who has been an MP for the town since 2010, said he is the "best-placed person" to fight the snap general election for the party.

Best known for his campaign work on historical child sex abuse and he co-authored a book on alleged abuse by former Rochdale MP Cyril Smith.

In July 2015, shortly after separating from his wife Karen, the MP announced he was stepping back from his work on child sexual abuse to seek help for depression.

Five months later he was suspended from Labour following tabloid newspaper claims that he sent lewd texts to a teenage girl. He said while the story had been blown out of all proportion by the tabloids, it referred to "an extremely low point" in his life.

In January 2016 he admitted taking payments from a photo agency for pictures of him sold to tabloid newspapers and magazines, but denied any wrongdoing.

Two months after that, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority ordered him to repay more than £11,000 after he admitted an expenses claims "error" over money he claimed for the cost of his children living in London.

In August 2016 he was arrested in Spain for two nights following an alleged row with his estranged wife Karen.

In October a rape case against him was dropped by police due to "insufficient evidence".