Mike Hancock

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For the mayor of Brantford, Ontario, see Mike Hancock (Canadian politician)

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

Mike Hancock was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, the son of a sailor, he was educated locally at the Copnor and Portsea School. 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.

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 the 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.

He unsusccessfully contested Portsmouth South for the SDP at the 1983 General Election but was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Bonner Pink by 12,335 votes. Pink died on May 6, 1984, and Hancock was elected, again for the SDP, at the by-election by 1,341 votes. However, he was defeated at 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.

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. 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, Croatia, and football

He has been married to Jacqueline Elliott since 1967 and has a son and a daughter. 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 and was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the same year. He is a former member of the Salvation Army.

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'.

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