A close friend of Hancock's wife, former councillor Jacqui Hancock, Margaret Foster was found to have conducted herself in a manner which fell far short of the standards expected of her in the council chamber.
Read moreToo Unwell To Talk, Not Too Unwell To Speak - Hancock's Still Spinning
You might recall from my recent piece, 'Hancock's Back', how The Guardian reported last week that Mike Hancock has been censured by the Council of Europe (PACE) for not giving evidence to its ten-month judge-led inquiry concerning politicians and Azebaijan. The reasons he has given to the media for his non-participation are (a) being unwell, and (b) not having anything to do with the Council of Europe any more. One would perhaps be forgiven for thinking that Hancock must have been debilitated throughout the whole period of evidence gathering and report writing up to that point.
But lo! He was risen - and to be precise, he was filmed, recorded and photographed at a conference in Paris on 9th February 2018.
Read moreHancock Calling - And He's Got Gerald's Number
In a short piece in the Portsmouth News published last Saturday, its political reporter Ben Fishwick wrote about a recent conversation that he had had with former MP Mike Hancock, including some overbatim details of that conversation.
Hancock is reported to have said:
‘I’ve phoned him, I wish him all the very best.' ‘I wish him luck and I hope it goes well for him and working with Liberal Democrats and Labour.' 'I hope they work well together.'
What can we potentially gather from this reported conversation? And who is Hancock really talking to? I've come up with 8 things. (Just the eight?, I hear you ask …)
Read moreHancock's Back
And in true Hollywood style, just when the Liberal Democrats were banging on again about Hancock being 'old news', his past as a Lib Dem MP rose up off the ground and threw itself back into the fray.
Reported first in The Guardian and then in the Portsmouth News, just a few days ago, his previous well-publicised activities in Azerbaijan have finally come under current scrutiny. And this one isn't going to go away quietly - the Council Of Europe's assembly known as 'PACE' and the Speaker of the House of Commons are going to need to decide what to do with him.
Read moreShout Out To the Lib Dems who Want to 'Just Move On' - You Are the Story Now
Dear Former Lib Dem Colleagues,
Despite the Police talking to a couple of you, and despite the fact that many rational, reflective commentators are telling you to learn from and reflect on what's happened over the past few years, a number of Lib Dem Party members persist in posting online comments about Hancock's victim 'Annie' which are unnecessary and, frankly, pretty vile.
To these people I say: Stop. Just stop. You do yourselves no credit, and you bring down a once great political movement which I worked hard for for over 14 years.
Read moreThe ‘Best Deal We Could Get’ – The Role of Alistair Carmichael MP, Chief Whip, In a Scandal
The Erasure of Women - Never a Good Look
Five very important men sat in a small room in the heart of the Parliamentary estate in London on a warm afternoon on 3rd June 2013. One of them was accused of sexually harassing and abusing a vulnerable female constituent, 'Annie'. Three of the other four had either been written to by her, or had met her to hear her allegations in person. They were all high-fliers - four Members of Parliament and a hotly-tipped successor, senior figures with illustrious careers behind and ahead of them. Or so they thought.
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