SO what exactly allegedly attracted Katia Zatuliveter, the glamorous 25-year-old blonde babe from the Eastern Bloc, to the portly, grey-mulleted, 64-year-old Liberal Democrat MP for Portsmouth South, Mike Hancock?

The latest allegations that he was the victim of a Moscow “honeytrap” are just that – allegations, denied by the MP.

The married MP has apparently enjoyed a fair few conquests of the female variety over the years, including a six-year affair with his constituency secretary, Daphne Sparshott, who in the aftermath said: “He’s not God’s gift to women, but he charms his way into you.”

No, he’s certainly not God’s gift, but then who is?

Inevitably, any top 100 sexiest men poll will throw up the predictable list of Clooney, Pitt, Depp, Beckham and R-Patz.

Accents were a common theme among women on the streets of Bournemouth who named Italian TV chef Gino D’Acampo and Irishmen Shane Filan, from Westlife, and actor Colin Farrell, as their personal “God’s gifts”.

Becky Green, a 26-year-old mortgage underwriter from Brockenhurst, said: “I like Shane and Colin Farrell because they’re Irish, it’s the accent. But I like the blue eyes and dark hair as well.”

Tabby Shimmin, 40, a retail manager from Southbourne, added: “Gino D’Acampo is God’s gift. I love his expressions and the way he expresses himself.”

For Sianagh Campbell-Ross, 21, a mortgage underwriter from Southbourne, it was the ability to entertain which made her weak at the knees.

“I love Olly Murs and Michael Buble, because they would be able to serenade me. But a good sense of humour is important as well.”

But when it comes to the whims of womankind, there really is no accounting for taste – I give you Paul Daniels, John Prescott, Peter Stringfellow and David Mellor. Even everyman actor James Nesbitt, star of Cold Feet and those cute Yellow Pages TV ads, is getting a lot more attention now that he’s bought himself a brand new head of hair (for £7,000 apparently), transforming himself overnight from dome-head to George Clooney’s s slightly less good-looking, but luxuriantly-barnetted brother.

And then there’s Sir Cliff Richard, who at the age of 70, still bizarrely has the ability to send certain women into paroxysms of lust as they flick through his official 2011 calendar, where there’s a photo of him frolicking naked from the waist up. Yes, really.

No, there is no accounting for taste, a fact confirmed by Mr Hancock’s long-suffering wife, Jacqui, who, despite his sexual misdemeanours, continues to stand by her man, dismissing his critics as ‘nutters’.