SIR Keir Starmer faces his first by-election test after disgraced MP Mike Amesbury announced he would quit Parliament following his conviction for assault.
The ex-Labour politician was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail, later suspended on appeal, for punching a constituent in a late-night street bust-up.
PASir Keir Starmer faces by-election test as disgraced MP Mike Amesbury quits after assault conviction[/caption]
The Mega AgencyThe resignation hands Nigel Farage’s Reform a golden shot at snatching the seat, piling pressure on Sir Keir to fend off a major challenge in his first electoral test[/caption]
The MP was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and observe a 12 month alcohol monitoring program.
Amesbury was also made subject to 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days – including an anger management course.
Amesbury, who secured a 14,696 majority in Runcorn and Helsby, pleaded guilty in January confirmed he would step down.
He told the BBC on Monday he will begin the “statutory process” of closing up his office before resigning as an MP “as soon as possible”.
He said he regrets the attack “every moment, every day” and that he would have tried to remain as an MP if he had been given a lighter community sentence.
His resignation hands Nigel Farage’s Reform a golden shot at snatching the seat, piling pressure on Sir Keir to fend off a major challenge in his first electoral test.
After freeing the disgraced MP, Judge Steven Everett said that Amesbury had lost his temper “in a huge way” and that the case shows him in a “truly unfavourable light as an MP”.
But changing the sentence, he added: “It has been a very fine line, I tell you now.
“Because of the important change over the last three or four days, we can conclude you are a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
The MP has previously resigned his Labour membership.
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