‘I was drunk, horny and alone’: MP explains sex text scandal with 17-year-old job applicant

WHEN Sophena Houlihan, 17, sent off a job application on Facebook, she had no idea about the career-ruining events it would set off.

A BRITISH politician caught in a sexting scandal with a 17-year-old girl who approached him for a job has blamed being “drunk, horny and on my own”.

MP Simon Danczuk, 49 said he was holidaying alone in Spain at the time and drinking heavily when he sent the lurid text messages to teen Sophena Houlihan after she applied for work in his office.

He admitted telling Sophena he wanted to “spank” her during booze benders on which he drank up to three bottles of wine a night.

Danczuk was suspended by the Labour Party this week in the wake of the scandal.

“Younger women are my Achilles heel. My first wife was ten years younger than me, my second wife was 17 years younger, my last girlfriend is 17 years younger,” Danczuk said.

“Some men like older women, some like younger women, some like brunettes, some like blondes.”

Danczuk, a father of five, added: “I have a drink problem, and that is a major contributory reason why I sent the messages.

“I’ve seen a psychiatrist about it and he’s told me to stop drinking for six months.

“I feel awful about what happened. I don’t know what came over me.

“I’m so embarrassed that I’ve been such an idiot. I’m sorry for letting my family down and I’m already dreading my young sons finding out about this when they are older.”

Danczuk, Labour MP for Rochdale, said he knew the messages were wrong the moment he sent them but on occasions was so drunk he had no recollection of what he had said.

Sophena Houlihan was just 17 when she first contacted Danczuk, looking for a job.

The MP described how his life had been falling apart. And he blamed the “stupid messages” on feeling lonely and depressed as well as a long-term battle with booze.

Danczuk said that when Ms Houlihan, a performing arts student, first contacted him in July on Facebook looking for work he was reeling from his break up from ex wife Karen, 32.

He said: “Splitting up was terrible. I had moments that were very dark and depressing and I turned to drink to help me through it.

“There was no doubt I was lonely. I don’t have a big family and there weren’t many people I could talk to.”

Danczuk said he told Sophena, who turned 18 over Christmas, that she was free to apply for a job — but warned she probably did not have enough experience.

He said: “I was trying to encourage her to take an interest in politics.

“We struck up an online friendship. For the first couple of months I saw it as nothing more than a professional conversation.”

After about a month Sophena told him she was 17. Danczuk said it was “not an issue” because messages remained about work. But he admitted he became attracted to her over the following weeks after seeing pictures of her online.

The messages became explicit when he took the week-long Spanish holiday in September to write a book. Danczuk sent her a message saying they should “meet up” — something he insists he would never have done in normal circumstances.

He said: “I was drinking heavily out there. I would drink from seven in the evening until two or three in the morning. I’d often drink three bottles of wine to myself.”

It was during one of these benders he noticed a picture of Sophena in a white body suit.

He said: “I don’t know what came over me to message her about the picture. I was drunk.

“I told her it looked nice and she then replied, saying ‘It would look better on your bedroom floor’.

“I knew it was a step too far but I’ve had a lot to drink and I told her I was horny. It all got out of hand from there.”

Over the next couple of days the pair exchanged explicit messages.

Danczuk said it only happened late in the evening or into the early hours after he had sunk a bottle of wine or two. On one occasion he asked her if he could spank her and invited her out to join him in Spain.

In another message he asked her to meet him at the Labour Party conference the following week.

He said: “With every message I sent I knew what I was doing was inappropriate but I still did it.

“It was drunken bravado and I cringe at it. I never had any intentions of meeting up with her. I’d eventually go to bed in the early hours. When I woke I’d think ‘Who have I sent messages to and what have I said?’

“I’d read them and think ‘Goodness this just isn’t acceptable’. I had real regrets about it.”

Simon Danczuk gained a reputation for being 'outspoken and maverick' in politics, but his career has imploded. Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

On one occasion Sophena tried to discuss work with a drunken Danczuk. He replied: “Let’s get back to the sex.”

When asked about that message, he said: “That’s really quite bad isn’t it? I can’t recall that. I’d had too much to drink.”

Danczuk said on returning to the UK he endeavoured to make sure conversations with Sophena stayed strictly professional. He added: “I knew I had to stop messaging her those things. She was the only person I’d done that with. I knew it was wrong. It played on my mind.”

The following week, the MP was seen kissing Labour councillor Claire Hamilton, 32, at the conference. The pair were soon a couple.

Danczuk and Sophena exchanged a few messages after his return from Spain, then all correspondence ended. He said: “I was quite relieved it stopped. I never sent the girl any messages of an explicit nature when I was sober.”

But Danczuk admitted his heavy drinking continued. He said: “Claire would regularly drink two bottles of wine a night and I got carried along with that. I was drinking more than I wanted. I never drink before 5pm so I never see myself as an alcoholic.

“I wasn’t happy with the amount Claire and I were drinking so I put an end to the relationship.”

On Tuesday Claire claimed Danczuk was a womaniser and an alcoholic. Ex-wife Karen said in June the MP had alcohol issues.

Danczuk told The Sun On Sunday he saw a psychiatrist a few months ago and was advised to have a six-month break from alcohol.

He added: “I did around the time take a week or two out but that was it. My drinking certainly contributed to Karen and I not being together. I think I’ve used it as a coping mechanism.

“With the psychiatrist I also talked about sex but he didn’t think there was an issue. I think I have a healthy sex drive.”

On Thursday Labour suspended Danczuk’s membership pending an investigation. He apologised, saying: “There’s no fool like an old fool.”

He said he has spoken to Karen, mother of his sons Milton, seven, and Maurice, five, about the scandal.

He added: “She takes the general view I’ve had a midlife crisis.”

Danczuk made his name spearheading a campaign to expose paedophile MP Sir Cyril Smith and helping to bring Lord Janner to court over historic sex abuse cases. He said: “I feel I have let down victims I worked hard to help. I want to say sorry to them.

“I worry I’ve discredited some of the good work I’ve done for them.

“I’ve always said I’m an ordinary guy that happens to do politics. I never pretended to be whiter than white. It’s a great privilege to represent Rochdale people. I’ve done so much in terms of bringing justice to those who were abused but I’m this flawed character.

“I’m very disappointed I’ve let myself get in this situation. All I can say to Sophena is I’m very sorry if I’ve caused her distress.”

— This article first appeared in The Sun