Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has announced he is no longer an MP (Image: GB NEWS)
A former Labour MP who punched a constituent has said that he will officially quit today. Mike Amesbury said that “as from today I will no longer be the Member of Parliament for Runcorn and Helsby after nearly eight years as being an MP”.
Mr Amesbury was given a 10-week prison term after punching a constituent, which was reduced to a suspended sentence after an appeal, leaving him at risk of being ousted from Parliament through the recall process. He had last week told the he would “step aside at the earliest opportunity”.
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He told GB News he was “sad” and “devastated”, adding: “Not only for me, but (…) my staff as well, because, course, it goes beyond me, for my family. This is a result of something that I did on October 26.”
Mr Amesbury said he would be taking 20 hours of anger management and wearing an alcohol tag for 120 days.
He said: “If you were to ask people that I know – friends, family, staff – they’d say I’m usually quite calm and measured. But clearly that night yes I look at what I’ve done and I don’t recognise myself.
“As a part of my sentencing it refers to anger management I think 20 hours. I’ve been having some support already through a psychiatrist for the last four months.”
He added: “That particular night I had been binge drinking, there is obviously an issue in regards to that. As part of my sentence I need to wear an alcohol tag and it measures your sweat, it needs to stay at zero alcohol. I need to wear it for 120 days.”
Mr Amesbury pleaded guilty in January to assaulting constituent Paul Fellows, 45, after a row in the street in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of October 26.
Footage showed Mr Amesbury punching Mr Fellows to the head, knocking him to the ground, then following him on to the road and starting to punch him again, at least five times. Mr Amesbury spent three nights in HMP Altcourse before his 10-week sentence was suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake a 120-day alcohol monitoring requirement, go on an anger management course and complete 20 days of rehabilitation work.
The former Labour MP has been sitting as an independent for the Cheshire seat since he was suspended by the party after his arrest last year. He subsequently resigned his membership.