Constituency : Portsmouth South 1984-7 ( SDP ) , 1997-2014, 2014-15 ( Independent )
Despite the crushing disappointment of the 1983 election, the Alliance remained in the game and a potent force in by-elections. Mike pulled off a surprise triumph in Portsmouth by taking the seat from the Tories at the second attempt. David Owen later claimed that the result postponed an attempt by the Liberals to subsume the SDP.
Mike was born in Portsmouth, the son of a sailor. He was educated in the city and became an engineer. In 1971 he was elected to Portsmouth City Council for Labour. In 1973 he was elected to Hampshire County Council and was leader between 1977 and 1981. In the latter year, he defected to the SDP. He came second in 1983 but some distance behind the Tories. He was re-selected against a challenge from Bob Mitchell; the prospects for a defeated former Southampton MP in Portsmouth were not as good.
Mike was defeated by just 205 votes in 1987 . He became a director of the Daytime club for the BBC and also worked for MENCAP.
Mike was again narrowly defeated, by 245 votes in 1992. In 1993, he became leader of Hampshire County Council once again. In 1994, he contested Wight and Hampshire South in the European elections.
In 1997, Mike finally won back the seat. He became spokesman for foreign and commonwealth affairs. In 2000, he was switched to environment. He went to the backbenches after the 2001 election. His interest in Russia prompted concerns that he was becoming an apologist for Putin. He has also disputed the Armenian Genocide. He was a member of the defence select committee from 1999 but had to resign in 2011 when his Russian aide and mistress was arrested on suspicion of espionage although she was later cleared.
Along with this, in 2010 Mike was accused of improper sexual conduct towards a vulnerable constituent. The woman's family complained to the police who decided there were no grounds for a prosecution. In February 2013 the family launched a civil suit prompting an investigation by Portsmouth City Council and a review by the police who again cleared him. The Liberal Democrats suspended him in 2014 after seeing the council report and he resigned later in the year after the civil suit forced him into an apology for improper conduct. Despite losing his council seat in 2014, he decided to contest the 2015 election where he came fifth with less than 2 % of the vote.
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