Moments after witnessing a man being attacked in the street, an onlooker delivered a brutal assessment of the situation, just after 2am outside a town centre taxi rank.
“You’ve just lost your job mate,” the woman told the attacker. She had realised this was no ordinary weekend drunken brawl.
Because the man who had punched his victim to the ground was the town’s Member of Parliament. In an instant, following an appalling episode of violence, Mike Amesbury’s near 20 year political career was left in tatters.
In the days before the attack, Amesbury had been posting on social media about meeting with local police to discuss anti-social behaviour, and asking the justice secretary a question in the House of Commons about victims of crime. Today, he took to the same social media account to admit he had made a ‘serious mistake’, having ended up on the wrong side of the law himself.
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Months on from that drunken fracas, Amesbury’s spectacular fall from grace is complete after he pleaded guilty to assault, gaining a criminal record. The Labour Party stripped him of the whip in the House of Commons, and the Manchester Evening News now understands that he has resigned from the party.
Still an MP, standing as an independent, his future will likely become clearer after he is sentenced next month. The offence of common assault attracts a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
Amesbury punched the man to the head
(Image: SWNS)
A sentence of less than a year, even if it is suspended, would leave him liable to the recall process. It would trigger a by-election if 10 per cent of registered voters in his seat sign a petition calling for it. He may decide to resign.
What is clear is that Amesbury’s two decades as a stalwart within the Labour Party is over, and has ended in disgrace. Born in Wythenshawe, he first became a Labour member as a teenager and became involved in student politics at university.
On his website, Manchester United fan Amesbury says: “My Labour politics are shaped by my working class background. I passionately believe where there is a wall of injustice, it needs to be knocked down.” He embarked on a career in careers advice, and later gained roles within the Labour Party. He was elected as a Manchester councillor to represent Fallowfield in 2006, serving at Manchester town hall until he became an MP.
Mike Amesbury pictured during his time as a councillor in Manchester
From 2008 until 2012 he was the council’s executive member for culture and leisure, helping Manchester become the new home of the National Football Museum after it was moved from Preston. Later he worked as an adviser to Angela Rayner and also worked for Andy Burnham.
It was 2017 when Amesbury became a Member of Parliament himself, winning the Weaver Vale seat in Cheshire. He was re-elected at the 2019 general election, and for a third time last year when under boundary changes the constituency was renamed Runcorn and Helsby.
During his time in the House of Commons he gained positions within the shadow cabinet, including as a shadow employment minister and a shadow housing minister.
But his position within the party came to an abrupt halt following the events of the early hours of Saturday, October 26. Stood outside a taxi rank on Main Street in Frodsham town centre, at about 2am, he became involved in a heated conversation with a man named Paul Fellows, who had recognised the MP and was ‘remonstrating’ with him about the closure of a local bridge.
The temporary closure of the Sutton Weaver swing bridge would lead to a 20 mile de-tour for some residents. Amesbury told the man it was ‘nothing to do’ with him.
Mike Amesbury pictured in the House of Commons
(Image: Copyright Unknown)
As the verbal altercation continued, shocking CCTV footage showed the moment the MP punched 45-year-old Mr Fellows to the head, causing him to fall to the ground. As members of the public pushed Amesbury away, the MP returned and moved close to his victim, telling him ‘don’t ever threaten me again.” He was also heard to say: “You won’t threaten your MP again will you, you f***** soft lad.”
Hours later, when news of the incident broke, Amesbury issued a statement in which he said he had ‘felt threatened’ after an ‘evening out with friends’. He was suspended by the Labour Party, and was forced to sit as an independent in the House of Commons.
In the aftermath, the M.E.N. spoke to some of his constituents to gauge their reaction. One business owner said: “He’s an MP. He says he was protecting himself but you’re an MP. You have to react a different way.”
Another member of the public added: “You can’t just go around speaking like that. He’s an MP, he’s not just representing himself. He’s representing groups of people.”
Nearly two weeks later, Amesbury was charged with common assault. Today (January 16), during his first court appearance at Chester Magistrates’ Court, after navigating his way past more than a dozen photographers and cameramen, Amesbury pleaded guilty to the charge.
The MP is due to be sentenced next month
He sat in the dock as a public gallery packed with journalists listened on as the facts of the case were aired in public for the first time. Damning CCTV footage of the attack was played.
Amesbury’s solicitor Richard Derby told the judge of how such his fall from grace has affected the MP. He said: “Whatever sanction this court will impose upon him, it’s not going to have the effect as what has already happened to him. The embarrassment he has suffered, the shame he has suffered, removing the whip from him, a person who has dedicated his life to the public.”
Adjourning the case for Amesbury to be sentenced next month, the judge, District Judge Tam Ikram, did not give away much about what his final decision would be. “I leave all options open at this stage,” he said.
While it is unlikely that a man of Amesbury’s previous good character will face a jail sentence, the conviction represents a shameful episode which will likely end the political career of a stalwart MP and councillor, who had reached high office from humble beginnings. After the hearing, Alison Storey, Senior Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS, said: “There was no evidence on the CCTV footage that the victim was being aggressive or threatening towards Mike Amesbury.
“Nor did the victim retaliate after being punched for the first time, or when he was struck again while on the floor. This was a persistent assault which continued while the victim was on the ground and not offering any aggression.
“The CPS will always seek to prosecute violent offences in accordance with our legal test regardless of who the perpetrator is.”