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This is the shocking moment a Labour MP punched a male constituent and hit him repeatedly while he lay on the ground.
Mike Amesbury had yesterday claimed he was ‘threatened’ before the attack at 2.15am on Saturday morning in his constituency of Runcorn and Helsby, Cheshire.
But CCTV footage exclusively obtained by the Mail shows him launching a punch seemingly without physical provocation and then continuing to hit the man six times while he lay on the ground.
The incident is major headache for Keir Starmer, coming just days before his Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to unveil major tax rises in Labour’s first Budget in 14 years.
National insurance contributions for employers will rise and the Chancellor is also expected to hike capital gains tax, close inheritance tax loopholes and extend a freeze on income tax thresholds.
But the Prime Minister has denied he misled voters when he pledged during the General Election campaign not to hit ‘working people’ with tax increases. He suggested last week that landlords and Britons with shares and savings do not qualify as ‘working people’.
The CCTV footage shows how Amesbury, 55, appeared to be talking in an animated fashion with the man before suddenly knocking him down with a left hook punch to his head.
It goes on to show the MP – a former member of Keir Starmer‘s shadow cabinet – trying to hit the man up to six times as he sat apparently helpless in the road, although it is unclear how many of his punches connected.
The CCTV footage shows how Amesbury, 55, appeared to be talking in an animated fashion with the man before suddenly knocking him down on the high street of the market town of Frodsham, Cheshire at 2.15am on Saturday morning
Amesbury launches a punch seemingly without physical provocation and then continuing to hit the man six times while he lay on the ground
After the attack, Amesbury tells the man ‘don’t threaten me ever again.’ The shocking recording was obtained exclusively by the Mail after Amesbury went to police to report that he had been ‘involved in an incident’ after he ‘felt threatened’
After the assault bystanders rush to help the man. One woman says: ‘You’re like grown men, what are you fighting for.’
The security camera footage also features the MP being held back by onlookers, and admitting that he is the local MP, after shouting at the man: ‘You won’t ever threaten me again will you’.
The shocking recording was obtained exclusively by the Mail after Amesbury went to police to report that he had been ‘involved in an incident’ after he ‘felt threatened on the street following an evening out with friends’.
The 55-year-old has been a member of the Labour party since the age of 17 and he became an MP in 2017. Keir Starmer appointed him shadow minister for housing and planning in April 2020 but he has since stepped back to focus on his constituents.
The confrontation began just before 2.15am, according to the timing on the video, in the high street of the market town of Frodsham, Cheshire.
The recording begins by showing the MP for Runcorn and Helsby exchanging words with a man in the town’s well-lit Main Street.
One of two women in the foreground with two men can be seen raising her mobile phone in the air while apparently filming the MP and another man a few yards away, suggesting that they were exchanging heated words.
At one point, Amesbury briefly raises his arm and points it at the man before making a finger wagging gesture back at him.
A few seconds later, the unidentified man nods his head and points back at the Labour backbencher who is standing in the street with his hands in his pockets.
Amesbury then wags his fingers at the man again and pushes his head forward as if making a forceful point while deep in conversation with him.
At 2.15am and 35 seconds, the MP suddenly lunges forward and delivers a left hook to the jaw of the man in the first physical contact between the pair.
The man appears stunned and is knocked over backwards by the blow, falling off the kerb and landing on the ground in a cobbled section of the road used for car parking.
Within a couple of seconds, the video shows Amesbury approach the man who was sitting on the ground. He then appears to take up to another five swings at him while a man rushes forward to try and calm the situation.
The video shows Amesbury with his back to the camera and the view partly obstructed by a street sign pole, making it impossible to see if all his punches connect with the other man.
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
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
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is pictured here with Amesbury on the campaign trail in Weaver Vale, Cheshire in 2019
Amesbury, a Manchester United fan, is married to wife Amanda (pictured together) and they have a teenage son. They live in a £685,000 home in Frodsham, Cheshire
As the incident unfolds, a woman can be heard murmuring, ‘Why are they’re fighting?’ while a man shouts, ‘Oy, oy, oy’ and a woman’s voice yells out: ‘Stop it, stop it, stop, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah.’
Two women and a man then rush over to help, as one of the women in a black sleeveless top appears to gesture Amesbury away.
As the MP stands aside, a man’s voice which is believed to be that of the alleged victim, says: ‘Call the police… Call the police… Oh my God, oh my God’.
The man who intervened is then shown walking over to Amesbury while one of the women asks the man: ‘You’re like grown men, what are you fighting for.’
But the man mumbles back: ‘I’m not a fighter’ as the women continue talking to him.
Around 20 seconds later, Amesbury then goes up to the man who is still sitting on the ground being comforted by the women, and shouts at him: ‘Don’t ever threaten me again. Don’t threaten me ever again.’
Amesbury has been a Labour party member since the age of 17 and became an MP in 2017
Two men then lead the MP away as he continues shouting: ‘Don’t threaten me, don’t threaten me.’
A few seconds later a woman can be heard saying: ‘Whatever he’s done, you get over there’, but Amesbury continues: ‘You won’t threaten me again, will you’.
As a woman shrieks, ‘Hey, No’, he marches up to the man for a second time, while twice shouting: ‘You won’t ever threaten me again will you’.
The video shows him wagging a finger once more in the man’s face as two of the three women at the scene gesture at him to get back.
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 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.’
The woman in the black top then appears to recognise him, yelling: ‘He’s the local MP, Jono, get him on camera. Get him on camera Jono, he’s the local MP.’
She then adds: ‘You will never be MP again after tonight mate,’ before repeating five times: ‘You have just lost your job.’
As the confrontation draws to an end, Amesbury responds: ‘I am, I am, and you will never threaten me again…. Don’t threaten the MP. You will never do it again… You can’t do that… you can’t do that… f***ing threatening me… you can’t do it.’
Meanwhile a man’s voice cam be heard saying repeatedly: ‘The MP for gobsh**es’.
Amesbury released a statement on Saturday, saying: ‘Last night, I was involved in an incident that took place after I felt threatened on the street following an evening out with friends.
‘This morning, I contacted Cheshire police myself to report what happened during the incident.
‘I will not be making further public comment but will, of course, cooperate with any inquiries if required by Cheshire police.
‘I remain fully committed to working hard for the people of Runcorn and Helsby, and am determined to remain an open and accessible MP for our community.’
Amesbury is pictured here on the campaign trail with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner
Amesbury lives with his wife Amanda, 50, and their 14-year-old son in a house in Frodsham which is thought to be worth £685,000.
He first became MP for Weaver Vale in 2017 before the Constituency was renamed as Runcorn and Helsby this year, and held four shadow ministerial positions when Labour were in opposition.
Amesbury who is a Manchester United fan with an interest in rugby league and indie music, was shadow minister for work, pensions and employment from July 2018 until April 2020 when he became shadow minister for housing, communities and local Government.
He had the same Shadow title after September 2021 in the new department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities until June 2022 when he stood down saying he couldn’t give role ‘the energy it demands’ and wanted to do more to help his constituents.
Amesbury came back as Shadow minister for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Local Government between September last year and May this year.
Before his parliamentary career, he previously worked as a careers adviser and was a senior parliamentary adviser for Angela Rayner when she was Shadow Secretary of State for Education.
Amesbury, who graduated from the University of Bradford with a degree in community studies, was also a political adviser and stakeholder manager for Andy Burnham during his successful campaign to become mayor of Greater Manchester.
He was also a policy adviser to Tameside Council and a director of a housing trust in Manchester.
Amesbury joined the Labour Party as a 17-year-old before becoming a councillor in Manchester in 2006. He was later elected to the party’s policy making arm, the National Policy Forum (NPF).
He was forced to apologise in March 2019 for having shared an anti-Semitic caricature on Facebook in 2013 in a post referencing the ‘illuminati’ conspiracy theory. He claimed at the time that he had not shared the post ‘intentionally’.
Amesbury was re-elected as MP for Weaver Vale in the 2019 election, and again for Runcorn and Helsby this year.
It was revealed last year that he was a victim of stalking by part time chef Stephen Cowell, 56, who was found guilty of the offence after a trial at Chester magistrates court.
Cowell was given an eight week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and pay compensation of £500 to Amesbury in August last year. The MP said he would donate the compensation to charity.
A Labour party spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of an incident that took place last night.
Ambesbury is pictured here with Labour’s Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham
‘We understand that Mike Amesbury MP approached Cheshire police to report what happened this morning himself and that he will cooperate with any inquiries they have.’
Cheshire police said officers were called at 2.48am on Saturday to reports of an assault in Frodsham.
The force said: ‘A caller reported he had been assaulted by a man in Main Street. Inquiries are ongoing.’
A man who gave his name as Jono and said that he witnessed the incident told Sky News that he saw an altercation and ‘that’s when I got my phone out and started recording’.
He added: ‘It wasn’t nice to see… The lad fell to the floor, everyone was trying to help him. I recorded it because it did look serious.’
Jon said the MP ‘went off’ and ‘our taxi turned up then, so we went off’. He added that he didn’t see what hapend in the run up to the altercation.