ALCOHOL and feeling anxious after a tough time with work were part of the reason why former Labour MP Mike Amesbury punched a constituent, he has said.

The former Runcorn and Helsby MP told GMB that he lashed out after drinking “probably about six and seven pints” in three pubs on an empty stomach after a busy Friday at work.

Amesbury pleaded guilty in January to assaulting constituent Paul Fellows, 45, after a row over swing bridges in the street in Frodsham, in the early hours of October 26.

He told GMB: “I’m a living visual example of the consequences of using violence, of seeing red in those moments of madness.

“There for the grace of gods, that Mr Fellows didn’t bang his head on the floor and kill (himself).

“At 55 years on this planet, nearly 56, I’ve never been in trouble with the police before.”

Footage showed Amesbury punching Mr Fellows to the head, knocking him to the ground, then following him onto the road and starting to punch him again, at least five times.

He was given a 10-week prison term, which was reduced to a suspended sentence after an appeal and has resigned from Parliament.

Amesbury, who said “I am being punished and rightfully so”, placed the incident at a time when the Labour Government were having “a tough time in Parliament” and people were “quite vexed” over various issues including winter fuel.

He said the situation makes you feel “somewhat anxious”, telling the programme: “Lots of members of Parliament have got personal alarms on them and so forth.

“Mr Fellows was somewhat vexed about, I think it was a local bridge. I think he mentioned winter fuel as well. There’s a number of things.

“I did feel personally threatened at that time and I made an instantaneous judgment call which was wrong. I should have walked away.”

Asked if the amount of alcohol he had drunk that night had made him less able to control himself when he was faced by Mr Fellows, he replied “undoubtedly”.

Amesbury said he now wants to stop drinking, saying that “if I had an issue, it’s probably around binge drinking, so every now and again” he would let his hair down, particularly when things were quite stressful.

He said he has watched the footage of him hitting Mr Fellows, adding: “It’s me, but I don’t recognise myself and I find it quite traumatic. I’ve had to watch that over and over again and rightfully so.”

Amesbury spent three nights in HMP Altcourse before his 10-week sentence was suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake a 120-day alcohol monitoring requirement, go on an anger management course and complete 20 days of rehabilitation work.

He had been sitting as an independent for the Runcorn seat since he was suspended by the Labour party after his arrest last year. He subsequently resigned his membership.

Amesbury formally resigned as the MP for Runcorn and Helsby earlier this month, and Labour has officially triggered the by-election to replace him.

It will represent the first by-election test for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

Amesbury won the seat last year with a majority of 14,696 over Reform UK.