Mike Amesbury

Michael Lee Amesbury (born 6 May 1969) is a British former politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Runcorn and Helsby (previously Weaver Vale) from 2017 until 2025. Formerly a member of the Labour Party, he was suspended in October 2024 and resigned his party membership in January 2025.

Born in Manchester and raised in West Yorkshire, Amesbury began working as a careers adviser and later became a Labour Party officer. He has been a political adviser to Greater Manchester politicians including Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham. Amesbury served as a Member of Manchester City Council from 2006 to 2017 and an Executive Member from 2008 to 2012. He held several shadow ministerial portfolios in Parliament between 2018 and 2024, including Employment, Housing, and Local Government.

In January 2025, Amesbury pleaded guilty to common assault and was sentenced to ten weeks in prison. On appeal, his prison sentence was upheld, but suspended for two years. In March 2025, he resigned from his seat in Parliament.

Michael Lee Amesbury was born on 6 May 1969 in Wythenshawe, Manchester. He moved to Castleford in West Yorkshire at a young age, where he was educated at Castleford High School. He joined the Labour Party in 1987, having been politicised by the miners' strike.

Amesbury studied at Ilkley College, where he was awarded Bachelor of Arts degree in Community Studies from Bradford University in 1993. He was president of the Ilkley College students' union from 1993 to 1994, and founded its Labour Party society. In 1996, he received a Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance from the University of Central England in Birmingham.

Amesbury worked as a careers advisor in Birmingham after receiving his postgraduate degree. He became an officer for the North West Labour Party from 1999 until 2003, when returned to careers advice as a manager at Connexions.

He returned to North West Labour as an events and fundraising manager in 2013, having previously worked as a project manager at The Manchester College. He was a policy adviser at Tameside Council from 2014 until 2015, when he became an adviser to Tameside Member of Parliament (MP) Angela Rayner. He worked for Andy Burnham from 2016 to 2017, supporting his work as an MP and later his Greater Manchester mayoral campaign.

Amesbury was first elected to Manchester City Council in 2006, defeating the incumbent Liberal Democrat councillor in Fallowfield. He served as the Council's Executive Member for Culture and Leisure from 2008 to 2012. He was a member of Labour's National Policy Forum from 2010 to 2015. He resigned as a councillor following his election to Parliament in 2017.