Today’s Bigotgate furore has been part farce, part tragedy. Meanwhile Research can’t help but feel a pang of pity for Simon Danczuk, the Labour Party’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Rochdale.

Danczuk is well-known to us as the co-founder of social research agency Vision 21. He was selected to represent the Labour Party in Rochdale more than three years ago.

As we reported at the time:

Danczuk is “convinced” he can win back the Rochdale seat for Labour at the next general election. In 2005, it went to the Liberal Democrats with a majority of just 444. He is no stranger to politics, having been a councillor for Blackburn with Darwen from the age of 27 to 35. Now 40, he has been active in the Labour movement for over 20 years.

Boundary changes since then give Labour a notional majority of 149, based on the 2005 result.

Better make that 148 after today.

Danczuk was showing Prime Minister Gordon Brown around Rochdale this afternoon and was reportedly the man responsible for introducing Brown to Gillian Duffy – the 65-year-old widow who Brown later called a “bigot” after she raised the question of Eastern European immigration.

Brown has since apologised for the comment (twice – once on the phone, once in person). Read the full transcript at the Channel 4 News website.