Political correspondent
Investigations producer and politics reporter
Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has stated he’ll stand down from parliament after being given a jail sentence for repeatedly punching a constituent.
The Runcorn and Helsby MP has advised the PRESSHARK he’ll start the “statutory course of” of winding up his workplace earlier than resigning as an MP “as quickly as attainable”.
His resignation will set off the primary by-election of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour authorities.
Amesbury was given a 10-week jail sentence, suspended for 2 years, after he admitted assaulting Paul Fellows.
In his first interview because the sentencing, Amesbury stated he “regrets” attacking Mr Fellows “each second, day-after-day”.
However Amesbury advised the PRESSHARK he would have tried to stay an MP – a job he stated was his “calling” – had he been given a lighter neighborhood sentence.
“I might have continued to serve my constituents, I used to be elected simply seven or eight months in the past,” he stated.
“And that might have been my intentions, if I used to be capable of, to proceed.”
Beneath parliamentary guidelines, if an MP receives a custodial sentence, a “recall petition” is triggered.
If no less than 10% of his constituents had voted to take away Amesbury, a by-election would have been referred to as – doubtlessly ousting him as MP.
Requested about his future, Amesbury advised the PRESSHARK: “I’ll step apart on the earliest alternative.
“I’ve bought processes I need to undergo – there is a statutory course of when it comes to redundancies,” he stated.
Amesbury described the fallout from his court docket case as “troublesome”, however stated he “owns” his mistake.
Amesbury defended persevering with to take his MP wages – regardless of not showing in a Home of Commons debates since video of him punching Mr Fellows first surfaced in October 2024.
He advised the PRESSHARK he carried out casework for his constituents, even whereas behind bars.
“I truly picked up some casework in jail,” Amesbury stated, as his workplace supervisor forwarded on “correspondence”.
“Life would not cease as an MP,” he added.
Amesbury spent three nights in jail following his 10-week sentence being handed down at Chester Magistrates’ Courtroom on 24 February.
Chester Crown Courtroom later suspended his sentence, permitting him to serve his time in the neighborhood as an alternative of behind bars.
As a part of his suspended sentence, Amesbury should perform 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake an alcohol monitoring programme, go on an anger administration course and perform 20 days of rehabilitation work.
Campaigners had referred to as for Amesbury to be stripped of his wages throughout his trial and imprisonment.
The Unbiased Parliament Requirements Authority (IPSA), which regulates MPs’ pay, stated the principles imply that till a member is suspended because of a Home of Commons disciplinary process they should be paid their wage.
Requested how he responded to individuals who may suppose he had been handled flippantly in having his sentence suspended, Amesbury stated he had been “punished accordingly”.
“I pleaded responsible on the earliest alternative when it comes to the regulation,” Amesbury stated.
He advised the PRESSHARK he’s “going to lose the household dwelling”, his livelihood and stroll away with a prison file.
“If individuals suppose that is flippantly, so be it.”
Video footage of the assault, performed in court docket, confirmed Amesbury punching Mr Fellows within the head, knocking him to the bottom.
The politician then hit him no less than 5 extra occasions and swore at him.
Amesbury was then heard saying: “You will not threaten your MP once more, will you?”
The court docket heard that Amesbury advised the police he had been approached by a person “shouting and screaming”, and stated that, as a result of he was terrified and the opposite man’s “arms have been swinging”, he felt he had no possibility however to “defend” himself.
Regardless of the choose calling his feedback “a pack of lies”, Amesbury maintains he “felt threatened” by Mr Fellows.
Within the days main as much as the incident Amesbury stated he had been coping with dying threats and the influence of a stalker which raised his “anxiousness ranges”.
Threats and abuse “make you on edge”, Amesbury stated, noting that two MPs – Jo Cox and Sir David Amess – have been murdered previously decade.
“So, when somebody approached me at ten previous two within the morning it was fairly pure to be on edge and anxious – and I bought it improper,” he stated.
He stated he ought to have walked away, including: “I simply noticed pink – a second of insanity which I’ll remorse for the remainder of my life.”
He added he wish to apologise to Mr Fellows in individual, however held again because the authorized course of unfolded.
The PRESSHARK has additionally approached Mr Fellows for remark.
