Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has announced he’ll resign from parliament, triggering a by-election, after being convicted for punching a constituent.
The 55-year-old hasn’t spoken publicly since he sentenced to 10 weeks in prison – later suspended for two years on appeal – for assault by beating.
He admitted to the charge after being filmed repeatedly punching Paul Fellows after a night drinking in Frodsham, Cheshire, on October 26 last year.
Despite previously resisting calls to step down, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby has now announced his intention to resign ‘as soon as possible’.
Once he has, it will trigger the first by-election of Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
Runcorn and Helsby is by no means a marginal seat. Labour won here by 34.8% in July.
But Reform leap-frogged both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to land in second place, with 18.1% of the vote last year.
Had Mr Amesbury’s prison sentence not been suspended, he would have faced a recall petition.
If at least 10% of his constituents signed saying they wanted to remove him as MP, a by-election would have been called.
As he had resigned his membership of the Labour Party – which had already suspended him – he would not have been the party’s candidate, even if he chose to stand again.
Mr Amesbury’s career as a politician came crashing down after hewas filmed punching Mr Fellows in the head, knocking him to the ground, and hitting him at least five more times while swearing at him.
The MP could be heard saying: ‘You won’t threaten your MP again, will you?’
Now, Mr Amesbury has told he BBC he is ‘going to lose the family home’ and his job, as well as now having a criminal record.
He said: ‘I just saw red – a moment of madness which I will regret for the rest of my life.’
Mr Amesbury must complete 200 hours of unpaid work, complete an alcohol monitoring programme, take an anger management course, and do 20 days of rehabilitation work.
He will continue to receive his salary as an MP until he actually resigns.
The MP told the BBC: ‘I’m going to step aside at the earliest opportunity. I’ve got processes I must go through – there’s a statutory process in terms of redundancies’
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