Amesbury Sentenced; Faces Recall and By-Election

Former Labour MP Mike Amesbury has been sentenced to 10 weeks in prison for assaulting a constituent, Paul Fellows, in a drunken incident last October in Frodsham, Cheshire. The altercation, captured on CCTV, showed Amesbury punching Fellows multiple times, which he admitted as unprovoked. Amesbury, now an independent MP, faces a recall petition that could lead to a by-election in his Runcorn and Helsby constituency, with Reform UK and the Conservatives eyeing the seat. The incident has led to widespread calls for Amesbury to resign immediately rather than await the recall petition's outcome. The court noted Amesbury's behavior as unbecoming of a public official and imposed the custodial sentence as a deterrent.