'Punching' suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury faces jail in first by-election threat for Keir Starmer
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Suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury faces a possible jail sentence which could see him ousted from Parliament in a first by-election since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister. A judge warned the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, currently sitting as an independent, that he was considering a prison sentence among the range of options after Amesbury pleaded guilty to assault.
A jail term could lead to a by-election in the North West constituency where Nigel Farage’s Reform UK came second at the General Election last July, with 7,662 behind Labour’s 22,358. At Chester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, Amesbury pleaded guilty to assaulting 45-year-old Paul Fellows in Main Street in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of October 26 following a dispute about a bridge closure.
The court heard how he told Mr Fellows “you won’t threaten your MP again” after punching him in the head with enough force to knock him to the ground close to a taxi rank at about 2am. CCTV of the attack was shown to the court, with the prosecution saying the Runcorn and Helsby MP punched Mr Fellows at least five times while he was on the ground.
Amesbury was suspended from the Labour Party after footage emerged which showed him punching a man. District Judge Tanveer Ikram said: “This case is within the high culpability category. I accept that the injury was not serious, the sentencing guideline suggests a sentence starting point of a high level community order or a range up to a prison sentence.
