MP Mike Amesbury Resigns from Labour After Guilty Plea for Assault
Labour MP Mike Amesbury has resigned after pleading guilty to assaulting a man in Cheshire last year
Mike Amesbury, Labour Party, Cheshire, Runcorn, Assault
Cheshire: So, Mike Amesbury, the Labour MP, has stepped down from the party after he pleaded guilty to assault. This all went down after an incident last year.
Amesbury, who represents Runcorn and Helsby, got into a bit of a scuffle at a taxi rank in Frodsham. He admitted to punching a guy named Paul Fellows, and it was all caught on camera. Not a good look!
The court heard that this happened in the early hours of October 26, 2024. Amesbury hit Fellows to the ground and then kept hitting him. Yikes! He later said he was really sorry for what happened.
After the footage came out, he was suspended from the Labour Party but kept his seat as an independent MP. Now, he’s got to think about whether he wants to resign from being an MP altogether, which would mean a by-election.
The Labour Party said it was right for Amesbury to take responsibility for his actions. They suspended him after the police got involved, but they can’t say much more while the legal stuff is still going on.
In court, Amesbury looked pretty formal in a grey suit and red tie. He admitted to the common assault charge. Apparently, both men had been drinking, and it all started when Fellows confronted him about a bridge closure.
Things escalated quickly, and Amesbury punched Fellows in the face. There was some back-and-forth before the punch, and it seems like Amesbury was pretty fired up, shouting at Fellows.
After the punch, Fellows went down, and Amesbury didn’t stop there. He hit him at least five more times. Not cool! At one point, he even told Fellows not to threaten him again.
Initially, Amesbury claimed he was acting in self-defense, but he later dropped that story. His lawyer mentioned that he’s been feeling a lot of shame and embarrassment since the incident.
Amesbury has been in politics since 2017 and was a councillor in Manchester before that. Now, he’s sitting as an independent MP after being suspended from Labour. He’s out on bail until his sentencing on February 24.