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UK MP Mike Amesbury has walked free after his prison sentence for punching a constituent was suspended by a judge on Thursday.
Amesbury, who represents Runcorn and Helsby as an independent MP after being suspended by the Labour party, had appealed against the immediate 10-week sentence he received on Monday for assault.
Judge Steven Everett on Thursday agreed to suspend the sentence for two years, although he also ordered Amesbury to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work.
However, Amesbury is still set to face a recall petition that could trigger a by-election in the Cheshire seat that would pit Labour against Reform UK.
Under parliamentary rules, any MP who receives a custodial sentence — even if suspended — faces a recall petition. If 10 per cent of registered voters in the constituency sign, then a by-election will be held. The petition will only be opened once all appeals have been exhausted, and it is not yet clear if Amesbury intends to make further appeals.
It is also still possible that the parliamentary standards commissioner could open an investigation into Amesbury’s conduct. If the commissioner were to conclude that Amesbury should be barred from the House of Commons for at least 10 sitting days, this would also trigger a recall petition.
In last year’s general election, Nigel Farage’s Reform party came second in the seat, which Amesbury won as the Labour candidate with a 14,696 majority.
Amesbury pleaded guilty to assault by beating last month after the incident in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of October 26 last year.
The court heard that Amesbury had been engaged in an argument with a man, Paul Fellows, who he knew from school, about a bridge closure. Both men had been drinking.
Video footage showed the MP punching Fellows to the ground and he could be heard shouting: “You won’t threaten . . . [an] MP ever again, will you?”
In passing the original sentence, deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram said that “unprovoked drunken behaviour in the early hours in the streets” was “too serious” an offence for unpaid work. He noted that the attack had continued while the victim was on the ground.
However, Amesbury’s lawyer Richard Derby said that his client had otherwise been of “exemplary character” and described the incident as a one-off. Derby also said the bigger punishment would be the impact on the MP’s life and career.
