Even when relaxing on the sofa at home, Simon Danczuk appeared consumed by self-promotion and politics’ dark arts.

Claire Hamilton, who dated the Rochdale MP for three months last year, remembers how the popular US version of House of Cards was his private passion.

Rather than referring to the political drama by its full name, Danczuk would ask her, in almost a childlike way, if they could “watch Frank.”

Frank Underwood, the show’s central character played by Kevin Spacey, is a Machiavellian Democratic US senator who will stop at nothing in his bid to become president.

Danczuk felt a strong bond with the ultimate political anti-hero, according to Hamilton.

“He used to be like: ‘Can we watch Frank tonight? Can we watch Frank tonight?’

“He was obsessed with Frank. Frank Underwood was his hero.”

Hamilton announced she had ended her three-month relationship with the Rochdale MP on December 27 by tweeting: “Dumped Danczuk. He had it coming.”

Four days later it was revealed that the anti-child abuse campaigner had sent a teenager lewd text messages, telling Sophena Houlihan he was “horny” and asking her is she wanted a “spanking.”

The then 17-year-old had contacted Danczuk to ask for a job in his office.

Danczuk was also interviewed by police this week over a rape allegation which he denies.

Mum-of-one Hamilton says she now wants to move on from that personal and very public betrayal and is not interested in further tell-all interviews about their private lives.

Close friends are taking her personal phone calls in a bid to stop persistent press enquiries.

However, the Labour councillor has spoken to the Morning Star about Danczuk’s politics because she believes Labour members, his constituents and the public have a right to know about, what she calls, his “quite extreme” views.

Politics is what brought the pair together and Hamilton says they discussed it frequently but rarely agreed.

On almost every issue, Hamilton says the MP is now out of step with his own party’s policy.

She says Danczuk was in favour of private providers in the NHS as well as rail privatisation, supports academy school expansion and is passionately pro-fox hunting.

Hamilton told the Star: “I told Simon at one point: ‘I don’t understand how you can be in the Labour Party.’
“He replied: ‘Because they asked me first’.”

I spokesman for the MP hit back to say Mr Danczuk had been involved in labour movement politics "since the 1980s," saying the suggestion he'd join another party was "unfounded."

Danczuk also apparently believes the freedom to smoke is a “civil rights issue,” despite kicking the habit more than five years ago.

Danczuk told his ex-partner that the last time he smoked was during the 2010 general election campaign after Gordon Brown infamously labelled lifelong Labour voter Gillian Duffy a “bigot” during a visit to his constituency.

Hamilton remembers telling Danczuk: “I don’t think our relationship is going to make it until Valentine’s Day because your views are quite extreme on quite a lot of things.”

And their “first row” came over whether Britain should bomb Syria.

“We had a massive falling out, because obviously I was against bombing Syria and he was for it,” says Hamilton.

It wasn’t only his then girlfriend he clashed with over the contentious issue.

Hamilton attended a meeting of local Labour members with Danczuk at which he promised to consult with them and listen to the debate in Parliament before deciding how to vote.

A day later and he was on Sky News rallying Labour MPs to back bombing.

Shortly afterwards, Hamilton accompanied Danczuk to the home of his agent Allen Brett, a Rochdale councillor.

“His agent had received 146 emails from very angry members of Rochdale CLP who had been promised he would listen to them,” she remembers of the meeting.

“His agent gave him an absolute bollocking about how he had been behaving.

“He told Simon he had 20 minutes to convince him not to the go to the press and tell them exactly what he thought.”

Despairing local Labour members turned to Hamilton for support when she accompanied Danczuk to meetings in his constituency.

She said: “Members would come up and ask me to reign him in, but I told them I had no reigns on the man. He saw himself as a bit invincible.”

Danczuk displayed similar arrogance when he decided to go to the pub on Boxing Day when parts of his constituency were flooded.

After receiving a phone call from the Sun newspaper, he apparently told Hamilton: “The Sun won’t run that story because I’m too valuable to them.”

The Morning Star revealed earlier this month how Danczuk earned more than £29,000 by last year by penning pieces for right-wing newspapers.

Danczuk allegedly told Hamilton that he only started attending meetings of the Parliamentary Labour Party meetings when Jeremy Corbyn became leader in order to “pick up gossip” for the articles.

Despite that, she says Danczuk “doesn’t dislike Jeremy as much as he makes out in his columns.”

“His columns are mostly about Simon and making money for Simon,” according to Hamilton.

“Jeremy Corbyn is ideologically driven. Simon is Simon-driven. That’s the difference.”

His cosy relationship with the right-wing press crumbled just days after his pub jaunt when they exposed the sexual text messages he had sent to a teenager.

Danczuk is now sitting as an independent MP pending an investigation by Labour’s national executive committee.

He says he is confident of being reinstated and claims to have the “full confidence” of Rochdale CLP.

But Hamilton says he is privately prepared to dig in as an independent MP if he expelled, saying: “He’s not too bothered which party he’s involved in, he just wants to be a member of Parliament.”

Turning to her own future, she told the Star she wants to “draw a line” under the episode and concentrate on looking after her two-year-old daughter and on her council role.

“I don’t want the last 14 weeks to become the story of my life,” she says.

“I don’t want everything I’ve done in politics over the last decade to be ignored and just become Danczuk’s ex-girlfriend.”