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She was not a spy.

Katia Zatuliveter managed to prove a negative at the hearing and convince three judges, including a former head of MI5, that she should not be deported on grounds of national security.

But where does that leave the MP who had enjoyed a four year affair with the young Russian woman?

Mike Hancock says he won't be trying to regain the position he lost, as the longest serving member of the Defence Select Committee.

He hasn't decided whether he will continue as an MP after the next election, although by then he points out that he will be 70 years old.

And although his health has suffered over 18 months of suspicion and revelations, he insists he will fight on to find out the truth of why the acted against Katia.

He suggests some of it may have been political revenge - "my political masters" is how he puts it - annoyed that he was speaking out against some of his own party's policies.

In fact he claims senior government figures made that explicitly clear to him.

And he suggests security service incompetence made up the rest of the dodgy equation.

Mike Hancock may have lost a great deal of his influence, but as you can see from my interview with him, he has not been put off asking difficult questions.

The immigration panel praised the work of MI5 agents, saying they and the �鶹Լ�� Office acted professionally on justifiable suspicions.