Labour Party suspends MP Mike Amesbury after video showed him punching man in street
Mike Amesbury has been suspended by the Labour Party after CCTV footage showed him punching a man in the street.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Mike Amesbury MP has been assisting Cheshire Police with their inquiries following an incident on Friday night.
“As these inquiries are now ongoing, the Labour Party has administratively suspended Mr Amesbury’s membership of the Labour Party pending an investigation.”
A new video, obtained by MailOnline on Sunday afternoon, showed the MP for Runcorn and Helsby punching a man, who fell to the floor, before then hitting him repeatedly.
Three members of the public could then be seen walking over towards the two men and intervening.
Mr Amesbury was filmed throwing a punch at a man on the ground.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: “A 55-year-old man has been voluntarily interviewed under caution by police in relation to this incident. He has since been released pending further enquiries.”
“Mike Amesbury has questions to answer about his actions and it is right they are thoroughly investigated,” a Tory party spokesperson said.
The Labour MP said he felt threatened during the confrontation in Frodsham.
It came after earlier footage, which circulated on social media on Saturday, showed Mr Amesbury shouting at a man, who was lying on the floor, saying, “you won’t ever threaten me again”.
Mr Amesbury pointed at the man and added: “Yes I am [the MP], yes I am, and you won’t threaten the MP ever again, will you?”
In a statement on Saturday, the MP said he felt “threatened on the street following an evening out with friends” – and added he “contacted Cheshire Police myself to report what happened during this incident”.
Mike Amesbury became an MP in 2017. Pic: PA
“I will not be making further public comment but will, of course, cooperate with any inquiries if required by Cheshire Police,” he added.
The force earlier said officers were called at 2.48am on Saturday to reports of an assault in Main Street, Frodsham.
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Cabinet minister Pat McFadden told Sky News the footage is “very graphic” when asked if he was appalled by the video.
“He’s been suspended by the Labour Party, that also means he’s not a Labour MP at the moment while the police investigation takes place,” Mr McFadden said.
“I’ve seen the video, there is a police investigation, I think it’s important that that runs its course.”
Before the video came to light, the Labour Party had said it was aware of the incident and that Mr Amesbury, who has been an MP since 2017, will “cooperate with any inquiries” the police have.
Asked whether Labour was investigating, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “Mike Amesbury… has gone forward to the police.
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MP in street ‘incident’. He has since been suspended by the Labour Party
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“He is co-operating with any investigation they would want to take forward,” she continued. “It is a matter for the police and we want to allow them to do that work.”
In July last year, a 56-year-old man was convicted of stalking Mr Amesbury at his constituency office in Frodsham, where prosecutors said he was seen staring through the glass and asked guards about their level of security.
Sky News has approached Mr Amesbury for comment.
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When Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is just one point behind you in the opinion polls, the last thing you want to be reminded about is Brexit.
If you’re Sir Keir Starmer, that is.
No doubt Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, was trying to be friendly. After all, as Sir Keir said, they share a passion for Arsenal Football Club.
But when Mr Tusk declared at their joint news conference in Warsaw that his dream was “instead of a Brexit, we will have a Breturn”, Sir Keir visibly cringed.
Was it an ambush? Not quite. But it was certainly awkward for the UK prime minister. He stood stiffly and didn’t respond, not once uttering the word “Brexit”.
Mr Tusk, however, has form for bemoaning Brexit. He was, after all, the president of the European Council when the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016.
He might now be in his second spell as Poland’s PM, but his five years at the EU make him the ultimate Brussels insider, who’s never made any attempt to hide his feelings on Brexit.
Prior to the UK referendum, in September 2015, he said Brexit “could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also of western political civilisation in its entirety”.
His most outspoken attack on the UK’s Eurosceptics came in 2019 when the-then prime minister Theresa May was struggling to get a deal. He spoke of “what the special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit“.
Sir Keir also visited Ukraine on his trip to Eastern Europe. Pic: PA
Standing alongside Sir Keir, he revealed that “for obvious reasons” they discussed co-operation between the UK and the EU. He recalled that his emotional reaction to the referendum in 2016 was “I already miss you”.
He went on: “This is not just about emotions and sentiments – I am aware this is a dream of mine, that instead of a Brexit we will have a Breturn.
“Perhaps I’m labouring under an illusion. I’d rather be an optimist and harbour these dreams in my heart – sometimes they come true in politics.”
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A dream? Or a calculated move? As a Brussels insider, was Mr Tusk speaking for the EU as a whole? Was he doing Brussels’ bidding?
He may have returned to lead his homeland, but he remains a key player in Brussels.
On becoming Poland’s PM in 2023, he ended a dispute with Brussels which unlocked billions of frozen EU funds for his country.
He also orchestrated the return of his centre-right ally Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president.
And Poland has just taken over the rotating presidency of the EU, which means Mr Tusk will be hugely influential once again, chairing meetings and setting agendas.
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Poland is back in the European mainstream. It’s where Mr Tusk would like the UK to be as well.
It’s where, privately, Sir Keir would like the UK to be. It’s just that with Reform UK almost neck and neck with Labour in the polls, he daren’t say so.
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