Mike Amesbury will have to resign, says former Tory chairman

It comes following footage emerging which appears to show the Runcorn and Helsby MP punching a man outside a bar in Frodsham.

Mr Amesbury has been suspended by the Labour party, with Cheshire Police enquiries into the incident ongoing.

Speaking on GB News, former Tory chairman Sir Jake said: “This is actually very serious; people are killed by one punch.

“We could be sitting here talking about someone who's died because of the actions of Mike Amesbury. It is completely unacceptable.

“What I just find bizarre about this is he was walking around the streets, I think it was about quarter to three in the morning, but actually, the hour had changed so it was near four o'clock in the morning if you'd started drinking before midnight.

“If you walk around the streets at that time of night, you run into lots of people who have had too much to drink.

Former Conservative MP and chairman Jake Berry (Image: GB News)

“It is not a safe place to be – it should be, but it is not – and altercations like this happen.”

Mr Sir Jake said that when people vote for an MP, they expect them to be able to fight and win arguments using their voice.

“The idea you have got to resort to this is bizarre,” he continued.

“He has got to go. He will go, and the longer he is sat there, the weaker Keir Starmer looks.

“Even if Keir Starmer technically cannot force him to resign, Keir Starmer could call for him to resign, which I think would show much more strength than to sort of sit back and say, ‘it is over to the police’.

“This is not unprecedented, because if I think back at my knowledge of politics, I remember when John Prescott clocked someone because they hit him in the face with an egg.

“He retaliated for being attacked. We can see on the video, this fellow had his hands in his pocket, so it is not quite the same.

“I do not think John Prescott should have resigned. He did not resign because he was defending himself.”