Simon Danczuk received death threats during the selection process. The postal ballot got a 78% turnout and Danczuk received almost twice as many votes as the second-placed candidate. Seven members of Rochdale Labour Party who were accused of bringing the Labour party into disrepute by criticising his behaviour were expelled, or resigned, after a disciplinary hearing in September 2009. In the 2010 general election, Danczuk won 16,699 votes, unseating incumbent Liberal Democrat Paul Rowen, who received 15,810 as Conservative Mudasir Dean polled 8,305, despite the incident leading to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's "bigoted woman" remark having occurred in Rochdale. In May 2011,
1940 Rochdale by-election 1940 Rochdale by-election The Rochdale by-election, 1940 was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Rochdale in Lancashire on 20 July 1940. The seat had become vacant when the Labour Member of Parliament William Kelly, had resigned his seat in Parliament by the procedural device of accepting the post of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, a notional 'office of profit under the crown'. Kelly had been Rochdale's MP since winning the seat from the Conservatives at the 1935 general election. The Labour Party candidate was Dr Hyacinth Morgan, a doctor born in the West Indies