Cllr Mike Hancock hit back at Northern Quarter protester Mark Austin at a meeting of the full council this week.

He said he was 'sick to the teeth' of Mr Austin being a 'prima donna' and denied any wrongdoing.

The row centres on a £10m deal for prime retail land in Southsea.

Mr Austin accused Cllr Hancock of deliberately trying to hoodwink buyers The Retail Group into paying top price for shops in Palmerston Road – despite knowing John Lewis was planning to close its Southsea department store Knight & Lee and move to the Northern Quarter development.

He hand-delivered leaflets to homes across Southsea listing the allegations.

Cllr Hancock said Mr Austin was talking 'complete nonsense'.

He said: 'I have done nothing wrong. There is nothing whatsoever in this.'

The Retail Group plans to take the council to the High Court claiming the value of the Southsea land plummeted after John Lewis pulled out.

Director David Murphy says the group overpaid the council about £3m for the land.

At a meeting of the full council this week Mr Austin asked Cllr Hancock a series of questions over the deal.

He said he had documents that proved Cllr Hancock had lied about his role in the sale.

He claimed Cllr Hancock deliberately delayed the announcement that John Lewis was moving to the city centre until the Southsea deal was signed.

Cllr Hancock said: 'It is my job to protect the interests of the city of Portsmouth and the disposal of Southsea was done with that at the forefront of my mind.

'We did not know whether Debenhams or the House of Fraser or John Lewis would go into the city centre but we wanted to make sure whatever happened we would do everything we could to protect Southsea and I believe we did the right thing.'

He added: 'Mr Austin is very adept at misinterpreting information.'

alex.forsyths@thenews.co.uk