A top Liberal Democrat boasted that Nick Clegg had offered Mike Hancock the “best deal possible” by allowing him to remain a full member of Portsmouth Lib Dems — despite growing evidence that he sexually exploited a vulnerable constituent, an exiled party member has claimed.

Portsmouth councillor Eleanor Scott, who quit the party over the Hancock scandal and claims of bullying, told a full council meeting that local party leader Gerald Vernon Jackson — arguably the most prominent Lib Dem in local government — made the comment at a meeting of their local council group.

Gerald Vernon Jackson, known locally as ‘GVJ’, even travelled to London last June to back Hancock up at a disciplinary meeting with chief whip Alastair Carmichael and Simon Hughes (inset above) organised at the behest of Nick Clegg.

What’s more, Vernon Jackson hopes to succeed Hancock as Porstmouth South MP — despite being at the helm of both the Lib Dems and the council during a massive cover-up of the scandal. The local party even printed the leaflets which smeared Hancock’s victim.

Knowing a by-election would wreck his Westminster ambitions, GVJ is even backing disgraced Hancock to continue as MP.