A shadow minister resigned three hours ago, and it appears almost no one’s noticed. Mike Amesbury, who was a shadow local government minister serving under Lisa Nandy, tweeted out a resignation statement at 12:24, which to date has 236 likes. In the letter he says he has made the career move to “put constituents first”:
“I secured my marginal seat from the Tories in 2017 and retained it in very challenging circumstances in 2019. At both elections I promised that I would put my constituents first. I believe that if I am to continue to do so, I am not able to give the role of Shadow Local Government Minister the enegy it demands and deserves”
Guido must admit it completely escaped his attention until the Press Association put together an article three hours after the announcement. So far just Iain Watson (four likes), The Independent (ten likes) and BBC North West (two likes) have also picked up on it. As Malcolm Tucker said after Ben Swain’s resignation “Christ, let’s hope it gets re-tweeted, otherwise you might as well just whisper it to a dead tramp.”
Having promised not to give interviews to The Sun during his leadership campaign, Starmer nonetheless penned an opinion piece for the paper over the weekend – much to the ire of his perennially disgruntled membership, his rank and file MPs…and now even one of his own shadow ministers. Taking to Twitter yesterday to vent his outrage, Shadow Housing Minister Mike Amesbury didn’t pull any punches:
The decision by Kier to use the Sun for an Op Ed piece is both wrong and insensitive. Justice for the 97 is not done, the hurt for #Hillsborough families and supporters is raw. Vile untruths were peddled to protect the establishment & those responsible escape justice.
— Mike Amesbury MP (@MikeAmesburyMP) October 3, 2021
Yet despite calling Starmer’s article “both wrong and insensitive“, a Labour source tells Guido that Amesbury is keeping his title, and seemingly won’t face any further action. It looks like Sir Keir’s afraid of causing too much trouble…
“Could you have a Conservative as a friend?”
“No.”
Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who has a cat called Marx and a dog called Corbyn, tells Pienaar he can’t be friends with a Tory. Labour really spoiling us with the calibre of their new intake.
UPDATE: Tory MP Andrew Percy doesn’t want to be Mike’s friend anyway:
“This is yet another deeply worrying example of the divisive hate at the heart of Corbyn’s Labour Party. Politics works best when people can reach out beyond party lines and form friendships. The increasingly tribal nature of Labour MPs is what is helping to fuel the hate and personal attacks we have seen in British politics of late.”
