Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury to QUIT ‘as quickly as doable’ after being jailed for sucker-punching a constituent – as Keir Starmer faces by-election take a look at
Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has finally bowed to pressure and announced he will quit the House of Commons after he was jailed for sucker-punching a constituent.
The 55-year-old, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, told the BBC he would be resigning ‘as quickly as possible’ once he has wound up his office.
He was initially ordered to serve 10 weeks in prison after admitting to drunkenly attacking a man in Frodsham, Cheshire, last October.
Amesbury spent three nights in HMP Altcourse, Merseyside, last month before successfully appealing his sentence.
A judge suspended his sentence of 10 weeks’ imprisonment for two years.
The MP was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake a 120-day alcohol monitoring requirement, and go on an anger management course.
Amesbury’s resignation will trigger a by-election in his Runcorn and Helsby seat, which he won for Labour at July’s general election with a 14,696-vote majority.
Reform UK came second to Labour in the constituency last summer and will be eyeing a breakthrough at the upcoming contest.
Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has finally bowed to pressure and announced he will quit the House of Commons after he was jailed for sucker-punching a constituent
The 55-year-old was filmed on CCTV punching constituent Paul Fellows after the pair had a heated discussion by a taxi rank at 2am in Amesbury’s home town of Frodsham, Cheshire
Sir Keir Starmer‘s bumpy start to life as Prime Minister means Labour are likely to face a much tougher battle as they seek to hold on to the seat.
The Tories came third at July’s general election, more than 900 votes behind Reform.
Amesbury had been under intense pressure to quit the Commons and vacate his Cheshire seat ever since he pleaded guilty to attacking constituent Paul Fellows.
The politician was filmed striking Mr Fellows after the pair had a heated discussion by a taxi rank at 2am in Amesbury’s home town on October 26.
He then punched Mr Fellows, 45, five times as he lay on the floor in what a court heard was an unprovoked assault.
Annnouncing his pending departure from Parliament, Amesbury told the BBC: ‘I’m going to step aside at the earliest opportunity.
‘I’ve got processes I must go through – staff, for example, there’s a statutory process in terms of redundancies.
‘So it’s not only me out of a job, so to speak. Although it was more than a job, it was a calling for me. I’ve loved most of my time being an MP.
‘I’ve got six members of staff so I’ve got a period of notice I’ve got to give them, so it’s going to be as quickly as possible.’
By choosing to resign, Amesbury will dodge being kicked out of Parliament by local voters via a recall petition that would have been triggered by his custodial sentence.
Amesbury has been sitting as an independent MP in the Commons since being suspended by Labour following his arrest last year.
He claimed he was ‘threatened’ before the attack in his constituency on October 26.
But CCTV footage, exclusively obtained by MailOnline, at the time showed him throwing a punch seemingly without physical provocation.
Amesbury then continuing to hit the man multiple times while he lay on the ground.
Chester Magistrates’ Court heard both men had been drinking and met by chance before discussing the closure of a local bridge.
However, the MP then snapped and flattened Mr Fellows, before yelling: ‘Don’t threaten your MP. You won’t threaten your MP again, will you, you f****** soft lad.’
Amesbury – an MP since 2017 and a Labour member since he was 17 – previously said of his conduct: ‘It’s highly regrettable and of course I’m sincerely sorry to Mr Fellows.’
