Mike Amesbury | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of Parliament forRuncorn and Helsby Weaver Vale (2017–2024) | |
| In office 8 June 2017 – 17 March 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Graham Evans |
| Succeeded by | Sarah Pochin |
| Member ofManchester City Council forFallowfield | |
| In office 4 May 2006 – 26 June 2017 | |
| Preceded by | John-Paul Wilkins |
| Succeeded by | Ali Ilyas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michael Lee Amesbury (1969-05-06)6 May 1969 (age 56) Wythenshawe,Cheshire, England |
| Party | Independent (2025–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Labour (1987–2025) |
| Alma mater | Ilkley College (BA) University of Central England (PGDip) |
| Occupation |
|
Michael Lee Amesbury (born 6 May 1969) is a British former politician who served as aMember of Parliament (MP) forRuncorn and Helsby (previouslyWeaver Vale) from 2017 until 2025.[1] Formerly a member of theLabour Party, he was suspended in October 2024 and resigned his party membership in January 2025.
Born inManchester and raised inWest Yorkshire, Amesbury began working as a careers adviser and later became a Labour Party officer. He has been a political adviser toGreater Manchester politicians includingAngela Rayner andAndy Burnham. Amesbury served as a Member ofManchester City Council from 2006 to 2017 and an Executive Member from 2008 to 2012. He held severalshadow ministerial portfolios in Parliament between 2018 and 2024, includingEmployment,Housing, andLocal Government.
In January 2025, Amesbury pleaded guilty tocommon assault and was sentenced to ten weeks in prison. On appeal, his prison sentence was upheld, butsuspended for two years. In March 2025, heresigned from his seat in Parliament.
Michael Lee Amesbury[2] was born on 6 May 1969 inWythenshawe,Manchester.[3] He moved toCastleford inWest Yorkshire at a young age, where he was educated atCastleford High School. He joined theLabour Party in 1987, having been politicised by theminers' strike.[4]
Amesbury studied atIlkley College, where he was awardedBachelor of Arts degree in Community Studies fromBradford University in 1993. He was president of the Ilkley Collegestudents' union from 1993 to 1994, and founded its Labour Party society. In 1996, he received aPostgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance from theUniversity of Central England inBirmingham.[5]
Amesbury worked as a careers advisor inBirmingham after receiving his postgraduate degree.[4] He became an officer for the North WestLabour Party from 1999 until 2003, when returned to careers advice as a manager atConnexions.
He returned to North West Labour as an events and fundraising manager in 2013, having previously worked as a project manager atThe Manchester College. He was a policy adviser atTameside Council from 2014 until 2015, when he became an adviser to TamesideMember of Parliament (MP)Angela Rayner. He worked forAndy Burnham from 2016 to 2017, supporting his work as an MP and later hisGreater Manchester mayoral campaign.
Amesbury was first elected toManchester City Council in2006, defeating the incumbentLiberal Democrat councillor inFallowfield.[6] He served as the Council's Executive Member for Culture and Leisure from 2008 to 2012.[7] He was a member of Labour'sNational Policy Forum from 2010 to 2015. He resigned as a councillor following his election to Parliament in 2017.[8]
Amesbury was elected asMember of Parliament (MP) forWeaver Vale at the2017 general election.[9] He defeated the incumbentConservative MP,Graham Evans, with 51.5% of the vote.
Amesbury has described his politics as "left of centre" and "pragmatic Labour".[4] He supports electoral reform such asproportional representation, and voted to remain in the2016 EU membership referendum.[10]
From 2017 to 2018, Amesbury was a member of theHousing, Communities and Local Government Committee. He was appointedParliamentary Private Secretary to theShadow Work and Pensions Secretary,Debbie Abrahams, in January 2018. He was promoted to become ShadowEmployment Minister in July 2018.
In 2019, Amesbury apologised "unreservedly" for having shared anantisemitic caricature onFacebook in 2013.[11] He said that he did not recall sharing the post, but was "mortified" and would not have done so intentionally.[citation needed]
At the2019 general election, he was re-elected to represent Weaver Vale with a reduced majority of 562 votes over the Conservative candidate.
In February 2020, Amesbury introduced aprivate member's bill to reduce the cost of school uniforms; the bill was passed as the Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Act 2021.[12]
He was appointed ShadowHousing and Planning Minister in April 2020,[13] which was reduced to Housing in May 2021.[14] Amesbury became ShadowLocal Government Minister in November 2021, but resigned in June 2022 to focus on his constituency work.[15] He served on theTransport Committee from 2022 until 2023, when he rejoined the front bench as ShadowBuilding Safety and Homelessness Minister in September.[16]
In July 2023, a 56-year-old man was convicted ofstalking andharassing Amesbury; the offences took place from June to August 2022, and his sentence included arestraining order.[17][18]
Amesbury was elected to representRuncorn and Helsby at the2024 general election with a majority of almost 15,000.[19] Weaver Vale had been abolished followingboundary changes and replaced by his new constituency.[20]
Following his election, Amesbury returned to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee and joined theModernisation Committee.
In March 2025, following an assault conviction and imprisonment, Amesbury announced that he wouldresign as an MP at the earliest opportunity.[21] On 17 March he was appointedSteward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds,[22] a procedural appointment which caused him to vacate his parliamentary seat. Consequently, this triggered aby-election in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency[23][24] which was won bySarah Pochin ofReform UK.[25]
At about 2:15 am on 26 October 2024, Amesbury was recorded byCCTV, inFrodsham, appearing to punch a man to the ground.[26][27] Amesbury shouted: "You won't threaten the MP ever again, will you?"Cheshire Police stated that an assault had been reported and that no arrests had been made.[28] The CCTV footage, subsequently released to the public, showed Amesbury directing more punches as the man lay prone on the ground.[29] Bystanders intervened to restrain Amesbury.[27]
Pending an investigation into the incident, the Labour Party administratively suspended Amesbury's party membership and parliamentarywhip.[30][29] Witnesses later said that the man had initially engaged Amesbury in a conversation about a local bridge which would be closed during winter, before the men's interactions became "heated".[27][31] On 7 November 2024, Amesbury was charged withcommon assault and summoned to appear in court.[32][33][34] On 16 January, he pleaded guilty and subsequently resigned from the Labour Party.[35]
Appearing before the Deputy Chief Magistrate,Tan Ikram, on 24 February 2025 at Chester Magistrates' Court, Amesbury was sentenced to ten weeks imprisonment, and was sent toHMP Altcourse.[36] He was due to serve 40 per cent of his sentence in prison, with the rest spenton licence. The custodial sentence would have triggered a recall petition under theRecall of MPs Act 2015, unless the sentence was sufficiently reduced to a non-custodial sentence, or he resigned.[37] Public discussion arose regarding the fact that Amesbury would continue to be paid his MP's salary while in custody.[38][39]
On 27 February atChester Crown Court, Amesbury appealed against his sentence before His Honour Judge Steven Everett and two lay magistrates. The original sentence of ten weeks was upheld by the judge as being "spot on", but wassuspended for two years. Amesbury was also ordered to attend 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) days, principally surroundinganger management, with the judge noting that "[Amesbury] is not somebody who has complete control of [his] anger management issues". Amesbury was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, and submit to an Alcohol Monitoring Requirement for a period of 12 months.[40] On 10 March Amesbury announced that he wouldstep down from parliament "as soon as possible".[41]
Amesbury is married and has a son.[42]
He suffered fromdepression in the late 2000s, which resulted in behaviour of "self-destruction" and almost ended his marriage.[43]
Amesbury is a supporter ofManchester United.[4]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWeaver Vale 2017–2024 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forRuncorn and Helsby 2024–2025 | Succeeded by |
