Lib Dems,  Russia

Mike Hancock: All At Sea

Of all the stories about Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock that have come out today, I think this is my favourite:

According to Eörsi, Hancock effectively acted as a Kremlin lobbyist, voting with the Russian delegation and even co-authoring pro-Kremlin amendments. Hancock had also failed to declare all of his frequent trips to Russia, Eörsi claimed, adding that it was odd that a British MP who sat on the Commons defence committee and was involved in defence issues in Europe, was “always surrounded by Russians”.

Hancock denied the allegations. He confirmed he had travelled to Russia in 2008 and 2009, but said he was unable to remember exactly how many trips he had made over the last 10 years.

“All my trips were of an official nature,” he said. He said he “hadn’t a clue” about the precise number of his trips to Moscow because: “My passport fell in the sea. It got wet. It was in the early part of the year. “I’m getting a new one,” he explained.

Though this old news is funny too:

Miss Zatuliveter has a master’s degree from the peace studies department at Bradford university.

Oh yes, the department where some people think promoting Hamasniks is a good idea.

Alec adds – Judy, in the comments thread, reminds us that Hancock was arrested in October in connexion with an alleged indecent assault against a female constituent with borderline personality disorder.

Another outstanding case is against one of his opponents; namely, Les Cummings who received fewer than 200 votes when campaigning against him as a local councilor, and was arrested at the beginning of November.