Disgraced former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has admitted the fallout from being convicted over punching a man in the street left him feeling like he’d been ‘buried alive’.
Amesbury stepped down as MP for Runcorn and Helsby on March 17, weeks after admitting to drunkenly assaulting a constituent outside a taxi rank.
The 55-year-old was jailed on February 24 for 10 weeks after he pleaded guilty to assault by beating of 45-year-old Paul Fellows in his hometown of Frodsham, Cheshire.
Shocking CCTV of the October 26 attack, which showed Amesbury launching a sickening attack on his constituent, was first obtained by the Mail.
Amesbury, who spent three nights in a Liverpool jail, later appealed the sentence which was suspended for two years, meaning he will not have to serve it in prison.
But he has spoken today of his horror few months since, revealing he had a spell in hospital, is being treated for depression and was forced to put the family home on the market after losing his £91,000 MP salary.
In a wide-ranging interview on BBC Radio 4 Today, he also told of the moment he was hauled to a prison and strip searched, explaining: ‘It felt like a living nightmare, it was quite surreal, I felt like I was in an out-of-body experience.’
Amesbury’s resignation as an MP in March triggered a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby, which Reform UK won by just six votes, stealing the Labour seat after a dramatic recount on Friday.
Speaking about Reform seizing Runcorn and a swathe of councils, Amesbury said: ‘I am really disappointed, obviously it has been a difficult few months myself. It has been like being buried alive. I am in a position through my own fault, my own mistakes.’
Amesbury stepped down as MP for Runcorn and Helsby on March 17, weeks after being convicted for punching a constituent
The 55-year-old was filmed on CCTV punching constituent Paul Fellows after the pair had a heated discussion by a taxi rank at 2am in Amesbury’s home town of Frodsham, Cheshire
‘But that was to add to the difficulties of that result [Runcorn], which was reflected unfortunately throughout the country.’
Asked if he felt guilty, he added: ‘The constituents of Durham, or up and down the country, didn’t vote how they did because of my mistake.
‘I live that moment every day of my life and of course I regret that and if I could turn back the clock and change things in that evening and done the right things and walked away.
‘But I didn’t, so I have paid a price and I learn from those mistakes.
‘Politically I want this government to succeed but if they carry on making political mistakes, winter fuel being an obvious one, but coming down the line is the Personal Independence Payments.
‘People on the backbenches now is the time to say you are not being disloyal, telling the leadership just think again if we are serious about having two terms of this Labour government and transforming this country for the better.
‘We have got to listen the the electorate and do the right thing.’
Amesbury said that he was not ‘surprised’ by the Runcorn result, adding: ‘You look at the results in the months leading up to this by-election and the local election results and the same picture emerged.’
He continued: ‘Reform have been the beneficiaries of some big political mistakes from the Labour Government and I sincerely hope Keir, the Labour Prime Minister, and the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, not only listen, but learn and respond.
Amesbury later appealed the sentence which was suspended for two years, meaning he will not have to serve it in prison
Footage of the incident on October 26 last year provoked outrage. It showed Amesbury lashing out and continuing to hit Mr Fellows (pictured) until onlookers held him back
After Amesbury successfully appealed his 10-week jail sentence – and before he stepped down as an MP – his victim Mr Fellows told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s outrageous. If it was anyone else, you or I, we would have lost our jobs, no question.’
‘I was surprised by the quickness of the appeal. I feel a charge of affray should have been brought rather than common assault, which the judge said in the appeal hearing.
‘I feel unheard. I don’t think justice has been served.
‘If I saw Amesbury now, chances are I would ignore him.’
