No love lost on the south coast

Political correspondent Michael Crick writes:

Much fun in Portsmouth South, where the former Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock, who was expelled from his party over allegations of sexual assault, is now standing as an Independent.

Hancock was asked at a BBC South hustings today why he was standing against Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the leader of Portsmouth Council who is the new Lib Dem candidate.

“I don’t like him,” was Hancock’s simple reply.

That seems a bit mean. Gerald Vernon-Jackson was always one of Hancock’s biggest supporters over the past few years of troubles – at times almost slavishly so.