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 …)