Suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury pleads guilty to assault | Cheshire

The MP for Runcorn and Helsby, Mike Amesbury, has pleaded guilty to assault.

Appearing at Chester magistrates court, Amesbury, who was suspended by the Labour party after an investigation, admitted the single charge of section 39 assault in relation to an incident after a night out in his constituency.

Police interviewed Amesbury, 55, after footage of the incident, which took place on Main Street in Frodsham in the early hours of 26 October last year, was published by MailOnline.

The video, taken from a CCTV camera, shows Amesbury hitting his victim, 45-year-old Paul Fellows, in the face, knocking him to the ground.

He is also seen standing over the man, hitting him several more times on the head and shouting: “You won’t threaten me again, will you?”

Amesbury said in a statement at the time that he had reported himself to police. “I felt threatened on the street following an evening with friends,” he said.

He later described the incident as “deeply regrettable” in a second statement made after he was summonsed to appear in court.

Amesbury, who has resisted calls to resign, was a shadow minister for housing and local government, and sits on two parliamentary committees.

He lost the Labour whip and was suspended by the party soon after the clip was published.

Amesbury was re-elected in July with a majority of 14,696, almost 35% of the vote. He had previously represented Weaver Vale, which ceased to exist after boundary changes. He had won the seat from the Conservatives when he was first elected in 2017 with a majority of 3,928.

A recall petition to trigger a by-election can take place if an MP receives a custodial or suspended sentence, or is suspended from the House of Commons for 10 days or more.

Reform came second in last year’s general election, although significantly behind Labour with 7,662 votes. Nigel Farage’s party has, however, already been distributing campaign material in the seat, hoping to capitalise on any potential byelection.

Amesbury sits in parliament as an independent MP along with seven other Labour MPs who had the whip withdrawn in July for rebelling against the government in a vote on lifting the two-child benefit cap.