Political correspondent
Investigations producer and politics reporter
Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has said he will stand down from parliament after being given a prison sentence for repeatedly punching a constituent.
The Runcorn and Helsby MP has told the BBC he will begin the “statutory process” of winding up his office before resigning as an MP “as soon as possible”.
His resignation will trigger the first by-election of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
Amesbury was given a 10-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, after he admitted assaulting Paul Fellows.
In his first interview since the sentencing, Amesbury said he “regrets” attacking Mr Fellows “every moment, every day”.
But Amesbury told the BBC he would have tried to remain an MP – a job he said was his “calling” – had he been given a lighter community sentence.
“I would have continued to serve my constituents, I was elected just seven or eight months ago,” he said.
“And that would have been my intentions, if I was able to, to continue.”
Under parliamentary rules, if an MP receives a custodial sentence, a “recall petition” is triggered.
If at least 10% of his constituents had voted to remove Amesbury, a by-election would have been called – potentially ousting him as MP.
Asked about his future, Amesbury told the BBC: “I’m going to step aside at the earliest opportunity.
“I’ve got processes I must go through – there’s a statutory process in terms of redundancies,” he said.
Amesbury described the fallout from his court case as “difficult”, but said he “owns” his mistake.
Amesbury defended continuing to take his MP wages – despite not appearing in a House of Commons debates since video of him punching Mr Fellows first surfaced in October 2024.
He told the BBC he carried out casework for his constituents, even while behind bars.
“I actually picked up some casework in prison,” Amesbury said, as his office manager forwarded on “correspondence”.
“Life doesn’t stop as an MP,” he added.
Amesbury spent three nights in jail following his 10-week sentence being handed down at Chester Magistrates’ Court on 24 February.
Chester Crown Court later suspended his sentence, allowing him to serve his time in the community instead of behind bars.
As part of his suspended sentence, Amesbury must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake an alcohol monitoring programme, go on an anger management course and carry out 20 days of rehabilitation work.
Campaigners had called for Amesbury to be stripped of his wages during his trial and imprisonment.
The Independent Parliament Standards Authority (IPSA), which regulates MPs’ pay, said the rules mean that until a member is suspended as a result of a House of Commons disciplinary procedure they must be paid their salary.
Asked how he responded to people who might think he had been treated lightly in having his sentence suspended, Amesbury said he had been “punished accordingly”.
“I pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity in terms of the law,” Amesbury said.
He told the BBC he is “going to lose the family home”, his livelihood and walk away with a criminal record.
“If people think that’s lightly, so be it.”
Video footage of the assault, played in court, showed Amesbury punching Mr Fellows in the head, knocking him to the ground.
The politician then hit him at least five more times and swore at him.
Amesbury was then heard saying: “You won’t threaten your MP again, will you?”
The court heard that Amesbury told the police he had been approached by a man “shouting and screaming”, and said that, because he was terrified and the other man’s “arms were swinging”, he felt he had no option but to “defend” himself.
Despite the judge calling his comments “a pack of lies”, Amesbury maintains he “felt threatened” by Mr Fellows.
In the days leading up to the incident Amesbury said he had been dealing with death threats and the impact of a stalker which raised his “anxiety levels”.
Threats and abuse “make you on edge”, Amesbury said, noting that two MPs – Jo Cox and Sir David Amess – were murdered in the past decade.
“So, when someone approached me at ten past two in the morning it was quite natural to be on edge and anxious – and I got it wrong,” he said.
He said he should have walked away, adding: “I just saw red – a moment of madness which I will regret for the rest of my life.”
He added he would like to apologise to Mr Fellows in person, but held back as the legal process unfolded.
The BBC has also approached Mr Fellows for comment.
