Mike Hancock (British politician): Difference between revisions

Michael Thomas Hancock CBE (born 9 April 1946), known as Mike Hancock, is a British politician. He is Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for Portsmouth South and a City councillor for Fratton ward.

Early life

Hancock was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, the son of a sailor, and was educated locally at the Copnor and Portsea School^{[citation needed]}. He worked as an engineer until he was first elected to parliament, and in the years between his parliamentary career he worked as both a director of the Daytime Club at the BBC and as a district officer for MENCAP.^[1]

Political career

He joined the Labour Party in 1968 and was elected as a councillor to the Portsmouth City Council in 1970, he left the Labour Party and joined the new Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981, and became the leader of the council in 1989 until his second election to the House of Commons, and he remains a member for Fratton on the city council. He was also elected to the Hampshire County Council in 1973, becoming the leader of the Labour group on the council in 1977 until he left party, leading the council 1989-97 when he stood down.^[1]

He contested Portsmouth South for the SDP at the 1983 General Election but lost to the sitting Conservative MP Bonner Pink by 12,335 votes. Pink died on 6 May 1984, and Hancock was elected, again for the SDP, at the by-election by 1,341 votes. In his book "Time To Declare" the SDP leader David Owen claimed that Hancock's victory prevented a Liberal attempt to subsume the SDP before the 1987 General Election.However, he later lost his seat in the 1987 General Election to the Tory David Martin by just 205 votes. He narrowly lost the seat to Martin again at the 1992 General Election, this time by just 242 votes. He also contested the European Parliament seat of Wight and Hampshire in 1994. He returned to parliament at the 1997 General Election, defeating Martin by 4,327 votes and has held the seat for the Liberal Democrats since.^[2]

He was promoted to the frontbench by Paddy Ashdown in 1997 as the spokesman on foreign and commonwealth affairs until 2000 when he was moved by Charles Kennedy to speak on the environment, transport and the regions, but returned to the backbenches following the 2001 General Election.

It was reported that he signed nomination forms for more than one candidate in the 2006 Liberal Democrat leadership election, in order to ensure a 'proper contest'.^[3]

Committee membership

He has been a member of both the defence select committee and the Speaker's panel of chairmen since 1999. He is the vice chairman of the all party groups on Russia,^[4] and Croatia.^[5][6] Hancock has said he acts to defend Azerbaijan in the British Parliament, does not approve of criticism of the Aliev regime by the Azerbaijani opposition, and does not believe the Armenian Genocide happened, describing it as a "so-called genocide".^[7]

Notable issues

An active supporter of animal welfare, Hancock is a patron of the Captive Animals Protection Society, a charity campaigning for an end to the use of animals in circuses, zoos and the exotic pet trade.^[8]

He is a supporter of homeopathy, having signed several early day motion in support of its continued funding on the National Health Service sponsored by Conservative MP David Tredinnick.^[9]

Arrest

On 12 October 2010 Hancock was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault and released on bail until January 2011.^[10][11] The case relates to allegations that he made sexual advances to a vulnerable constituent after she had contacted him seeking assistance with noisy neighbours.^[12]

Hancock's Russian assistant arrest

On 4 December 2010, it was reported that one of Hancock's parliamentary assistants, Russian national Ekaterina "Katia" Zatuliveter, was facing deportation after she was arrested at the request of MI5 on suspicion of espionage.^[13] In background, having worked in Europe and then gained a Master's degree from the peace studies department at Bradford University, Zatuliveter had gained work experience as an intern at the Palace of Westminster before joining Hancock's team in mid-2008.^[14] On 8 August 2010, Zatuliveter and a friend were questioned at Gatwick Airport on returning from celebrating her 25th birthday in Croatia.^[15][16] She was then released, but had since been questioned by police and MI5 officers on an irregular basis on at least five occasions, before being detained by the Metropolitan Police Service on behalf of MI5 and the Border and Immigration Agency in early December 2010, approved by Home Secretary Theresa May. Zatuliveter presently faces deportation proceedings, amid media claims she is suspect of being a sleeper agent.^[17] On being approached, Hancock confirmed the detention of Zatuliveter on Thursday 2 December, but advised the press that she was appealing deportation.^[18] In later interviews with both the BBC and SkyNews, he stated that it was "absolutely ludicrous" that Zatuliveter was being accused of being a spy,^[19] commenting further: "I have no reason to believe she did any thing but act honourably during the time she was working for me. She is determined to fight her corner and she genuinely believes, and I back her 100%, that she has nothing to hide and has done nothing wrong. If she has, the (security) services are right. But they need to prove their point now."^[14]

Personal life

He has been married to Jacqueline Elliott since 1967, and has a son and a daughter.^[1] The couple currently reside in Portchester in the borough of Fareham, on the outskirts of Portsmouth.

He has been the chairman of the southern region of the NSPCC since 1989 and has been the vice chairman of Portsmouth Dock since 1992. He was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the same year.^[1]

References

External links

• Mike Hancock MP official constituency website
• Mike Hancock MP Liberal Democrats profile
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• "Mike Hancock". BBC News. 16 October 2002. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010.

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