A glum-looking Mike Amesbury has been spotted for the first time since he was suspended from the Labour Party for sucker-punching a constituent.
CCTV footage showed the moment the politician laid into father Paul Fellows, 42, on the street in Frodsham, Cheshire in the early hours of Saturday.
Witnesses have tonight revealed what Amesbury said in the moments after the row – and how he tried to defend repeatedly punching a constituent.
The Labour Member of Parliament for Runcorn and Helsby was caught on CCTV hitting the father in the jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.
Amesbury then stood over the constituent and punched him several times in the head in a shocking 2.15am brawl on Saturday. A witness claimed he defended his actions by saying ‘Was I not supposed to snap?’
The politician’s outburst was said to have come after an argument over the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance and the closure of a local bridge.
Following his suspension from the party yesterday, Amesbury is believed to be staying with relatives in Yorkshire after he was spotted looking glum while visiting a nearby shopping centre.
A glum-looking Mike Amesbury has been spotted for the first time since he was suspended from the Labour Party after he was filmed sucker-punching a constituent
Mr Amesbury launches a punch seemingly without physical provocation and then continues to hit the man a further five times as he lies on the ground
Paul Fellows (pictured), 42, was attacked by the MP for Runcorn & Helsby on Merseyside while he was waiting for a taxi in Frodsham, Cheshire, at 2.15am on Saturday
Mr Amesbury, who is married and has a teenage son, can be seen in a black jacket and blue jeans, cutting a despondent figure with his hands in his coat pockets.
It is the first time he has been seen publicly since he hit the headlines over the weekend.
In shocking mobile phone footage filmed by an eyewitness showed the MP leaning down to the man and snarling: ‘You won’t threaten an MP again will you!?’
Revellers waiting by a nearby cab rank intervened and forced the two men apart.
One of the Good Samaritans was a woman who had been in the taxi queue with her partner.
She spoke to Amesbury following the attack and told MailOnline tonight: ‘There were people shouting at him that he’d lost his job and abusing him for hitting the other guy.
‘I had a quiet word with him afterwards and said “mate, what have you done. You’ve messed up everything.”
‘He replied, “No I haven’t, he was on at me constantly and wouldn’t leave me alone – what was I supposed to do? Was I not supposed to snap?”
Following his suspension from the party yesterday, Mr Amesbury is believed to be staying with relatives in Yorkshire after he was spotted at looking glum while visiting a nearby shopping centre
Mr Amesbury, who is married and has a teenage son, can be seen in a black jacket and blue jeans, cutting a despondent figure with his hands in his coat pockets. It is the first time he has been seen publicly since he hit the headlines over the weekend
A witness has claimed that Mr Amesbury and the constituent were talking about the closure of a local bridge
‘I told him that he was an MP and in the public eye and no matter what was said he couldn’t go around lamping people.
‘Mike was steaming drunk but he had a brief sober moment when he realised what he’d done and he just looked down and said “s***t”.
‘He told me that the man had confronted him over something but didn’t want to disclose to me what it was. He just said “he kept going on at me over things I have no control over.”
The woman said she waited with Amesbury until her cab arrived.
She said Mr Fellows got up off the floor around 20-minutes later and tried to confront the MP again.
The eyewitness continued: ‘ He was grinning like a Cheshire cat. I asked the man if he knew who Mike was and he said he did.
‘He seemed intent on confronting him again but we pushed him away. I asked the staff in the taxi office if they could let Mike in because he was getting grief and they agreed.
‘The man who was punched didn’t have a mark on him. I felt that maybe he was milking it a bit.
‘He seemed to have a friend with him who was filming him talking to Mike but who did absolutely nothing when he was punched except continue filming on his mobile phone.
‘I think the man had antagonised Mike and he bit. But you cannot go around hitting people. Especially if you’re in a position of power like an MP.’
Cheshire Police said a 55-year-old man had been voluntarily interviewed under caution in relation to the incident and had since been released pending further enquiries.
Today, the identity of person being sucker-punched was revealed to 42-year-old father Paul Fellows who allegedly got into an argument with the MP over the scrapping of the winter fuel allowance and the closure of a local bridge moments earlier.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the footage as ‘shocking.’ He insisted the Labour Party had moved ‘swiftly’ to suspend the MP, who will now sit as an independent, but refused to comment further while a police investigation was ongoing.
Mr Amesbury was quizzed under caution by officers after voluntarily contacting Cheshire police on Saturday morning. He was released pending further inquiries.
However, locals today insisted Mr Amesbury should resign for the apparent loutish behaviour and a by-election called.
Resident Laura Porter, 40, said: ‘I voted for Labour in the General Election and I don’t want him representing me. He has to lose his job. I want a by-election.’
James Anderton, 36, agreed.
‘He should either resign or be sacked. I think the only sensible solution is for there to be a by election.’
Witnesses claimed Mr Amesbury and Mr Fellows had both been drinking in pubs in the market town but didn’t know each other.
They began rowing in the taxi queue over Labour’s plans to means test the winter fuel payment and the closure of the Sutton Weaver swing bridge moments before the fracas. The bridge, which sits on a main artery into the town from the nearby M56 motorway, is set to be closed for 33 days in January and March for vital engineering works.
Hours before the brawl, MP Mike Amesbury had attended a meeting with the local police commissioner
Pictured: Mike Amesbury MP who has had the Labour whip suspended pending an investigation into footage that appeared to show him punching a man to the ground
The father-of-two (pictured) was sent tumbling to the ground in an attack caught on CCTV cameras
Another video from the incident, filmed on a member of the public’s mobile phone, shows Mr Amesbury repeatedly hitting the man while another person appears to be attempting to push the MP away from the man
Mr Amesbury, 55, who was stripped of the Labour whip when video footage began circulating online, has previously labelled the closure ‘unacceptable.’
He had attended a police meeting about community safety earlier on Friday evening before drinking in Kash 22 and The Cholmondley Arms, which has a 2am licence.
The incident took place after the pub closed at around 2.15am.
In a video taken by another man, who was also waiting in the taxi queue, Mr Amesbury can be seen leaning over and pointing at Mr Fellows while shouting: ‘You won’t ever threaten me again.’
Colin Jones, who runs a bric a brac shop in the town, said: ‘I’ve heard they were arguing over the winer fuel allowance and the A56 swing bridge closure. People aren’t very happy about that because it will have a big impact on traffic.
‘Mike Amesbury should be locked up for what he’s done. If it was anyone else they would have been arrested and in jail by now.’
Another local, who didn’t want to be named, said Mr Amesbury drank regularly with his friends in Frodsham and was often ‘p***** up’ in local bars.
One woman, whose sister was waiting for a taxi at the same time, told the Times Mr Amesbury was ‘just drunk and beat someone up.’
Yesterday, video emerged of the aftermath of the attack but it did not show Amesbury punching the man. The footage showed him saying ‘You won’t ever threaten me again will you’
In the aftermath of the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning, Amesbury was filmed leaning over the man on the floor and warning him not to threaten him again
She said: ‘He is trying to get out of it now. He was trying to beat him to a pulp. My sister tried to intervene and pull him off. You have seen the video of how drunk he was.’
Hugo Deynham, a Tory councillor on Chester West and Cheshire Council, whose ward covers Frodsham, told the Mail ‘single punches kill people’ and such acts of violence should be condemned in the strongest terms.
‘From what you can see on the video it looks pretty brutal, there is no condoning it,’ Mr Deynham said.
‘We need to send a message that single punches do kill people and the full force of the law must come down on those guilty of such offences.
‘We don’t know what led up to this and we need to wait for the police to complete their investigation. But if Mike Amesbury is found to be guilty of an offence, then I believe he should be forced to stand down and a by-election should be called.’
As criticism of Mr Amesbury grew, Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick wrote on X: ‘Labour’s promised to ‘smash the gangs’. Looks like they’re now smashing their constituents instead.’
Dehenna Davison, the former Conservative MP and levelling-up minister, also described the footage as horrendous. She said: ‘I have spent years working with One Punch UK to raise awareness of the dangers a single punch can cause. Such violence — whatever the background to the altercation — is never and should never be justified.’
Amesbury is pictured here on the campaign trail with Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner
Amesbury (pictured outside Downing Street) became MP for Weaver Vale in 2017 before the constituency was renamed as Runcorn and Helsby, and was in the Shadow Cabinet until 2022
Mr Amesbury has previously demanded tougher sentences for violent crime and is one of the stringent critics in Parliament of violence.
During the Southport riots over the summer, he posted on X that ‘thugs and criminals’ should expect a decade in jail.
In February 2020, Mr Amesbury spoke during a Westminster Hall debate on the assault of retail workers where he commented: ‘Anyone who is assaulted deserves to be protected by the law…What is more, despite ample evidence, some cases are not being prosecuted, even when there is clear video footage of an assault.’
He added: ‘We need this opportunity to talk about the violence and threats faced by thousands of constituents in their day-to-day lives and to press the Government to take action.
‘I have seen multiple cases that show that the Government need to do more to encourage prosecutions and appropriate sentences that do not leave victims feeling abandoned.’
Under the Government’s plans, only OAPs in receipt of pension credit will qualify for the winter fuel allowance, which is worth up to £300 a year.
Around 10million pensioners are expected to lose out because of the move, which Chancellor Rachel Reeves says will boost Government coffers by £1.4billion annually.
A witness told The Times that the conversation about the local bridge, which also included discussions about the winter fuel allowance, grew ‘heated’ on both sides, but claimed there had been no physical provocation.
Mr Amesbury had earlier claimed he was ‘threatened’ and referred himself to police.
As fresh details continue to emerge, one woman whose sister was waiting for a taxi at the same time, claimed Mr Amesbury was ‘just drunk and beat someone up.’
She told The Times: ‘He is trying to get out of it now. He was trying to beat him to a pulp. My sister tried to intervene and pull him off. You have seen the video of how drunk he was. She was waiting for a taxi and so was the man.’
It’s believed that the MP was drinking at local pubs before the attack.
Hours before the brawl, he had attended a meeting with the local police commissioner in which he said he was ‘listening to residents’ concerns and ideas for policing and community safety.’
Last night, on top of the suspension by his party after he was ‘voluntarily interviewed under caution by police’, there were calls for Amesbury to step down or be barred from parliament.
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick told the Mail: ‘Labour said they’d smash the gangs – instead it looks like they’re smashing their constituents instead.
‘There is no way you can remain an MP if you’re beating up constituents after a night out.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is pictured here with Amesbury on the campaign trail in Weaver Vale, Cheshire in 2019
Suspending the Labour whip in the Commons, a party spokesman 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.’
Footage of the incident first emerged in the hours after the fracas, showing Amesbury wagging a finger in the prone man’s face, shouting: ‘You won’t threaten me again, will you.’
A man’s voice can then be heard shouting twice: ‘The MP for Runcorn f***ing smacking someone on the floor.’
As another man tells Mr Amesbury to ‘leave it’, the MP walks away, before turning back and yelling: ‘Yes I am, yes I am… and you won’t ever threaten the MP ever again will you.’
