A man has been arrested on suspicion of sending an alleged death threat to a candidate in the Rochdale byelection.
Greater Manchester police (GMP) launched an investigation after being alerted to a video message sent to Simon Danczuk, of the rightwing party Reform UK.
The video was filmed by someone referring to Danczuk as “a white devil” and threatening to “put one in his head”.
A subsequent message sent to Danczuk on Facebook added: “I am going to assault you when I see you and I care not of the consequences.”
Danczuk said the message had “caused lots of concern and distress” and that he had two security personnel for the remainder of the campaign.
He said: “It’s just unacceptable. They stopped me from speaking at a hustings meeting, I’m receiving death threats, and now we’ve got to have security personnel as a candidate going round in an election.
“I’ve been doing politics for 35 years and I’ve never known it. It’s outrageous. This isn’t how British politics should work.”
Danczuk, a former Labour MP, is one of 11 candidates campaigning to be elected as Rochdale’s MP on Thursday. The byelection was called following the death of Labour’s Sir Tony Lloyd in January.
The byelection has been one of the most chaotic in recent history after Labour, which holds the seat with a 9,668-vote majority, abandoned its campaign over inflammatory comments by its candidate about Israel’s role in the Gaza conflict.
George Galloway, another former Labour MP, is the bookies’ favourite to win.
GMP said on Tuesday that a 23-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications.
The force said it received reports of “an online threat in the run-up to the Rochdale byelection” at about 3.45pm on Monday. The man was arrested shortly after 7pm.
Supt Lucy Smallwood, of GMP’s Rochdale district, said: “We understand incidents like this can be concerning but the victim and the public should be reassured that we’ve made an arrest. In anticipation of the byelection, we had already put increased patrols in place.
“Anyone with information on this incident can contact our dedicated team in Rochdale on 0161 856 8549.”
