Mike Amesbury: Labour suspends Runcorn and Helsby MP as police probe alleged assault

Mike Amesbury has had his party membership suspended by Labour while both the party and police investigate an incident involving the MP, after police said they were called to a reported assault.

Labour initially dismissed calls to investigate or suspend the whip from Mike Amesbury earlier in the day, after the MP said he had approached the police about an “incident” on the street during a night out.

Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby in north-west England and a former shadow minister, posted on social media on Saturday that he was “involved in an incident”, saying he “felt threatened” during it and would “cooperate” if Cheshire Police had an inquiries.

It came after a first video circulated online appearing to show Amesbury telling a man sat on the pavement he would not “threaten me again”.

Cheshire Police said they had been called to reports of an “assault”, with inquiries ongoing, according to The Guardian.

But on Sunday The Daily Mail published a video which it claimed showed an earlier part of the incident. The footage shows one man punching another to the ground, and then hitting him again on the floor. That appears to have prompted Labour to suspend his membership, causing him to also lose the whip.

A party spokesperson 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.”

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