Mike Amesbury

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Mike Amesbury

MP
Official portrait of Mike Amesbury MP crop 2.jpg
Amesbury in 2020
Shadow Minister for Housing[1]
Assumed office
9 April 2020
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded bySarah Jones
Shadow Minister for Employment
In office
10 July 2018 – 9 April 2020
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byMargaret Greenwood
Succeeded bySeema Malhotra
Member of Parliament
for Weaver Vale
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded byGraham Evans
Majority562 (1.1%)
Member of Manchester City Council
for Fallowfield Ward
In office
4 May 2006 – 27 July 2017
Preceded byJohn-Paul Wilkins
Succeeded byAli-Raza Ilyas
Personal details
BornWythenshawe, Manchester, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materBradford University
University of Central England
WebsiteOfficial website

Michael Lee Amesbury is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Weaver Vale since 2017, and the Shadow Minister for Housing since 2020. He previously served on the opposition front bench as the Shadow Minister for Employment from 2018 to 2020.

Education[]

Amesbury was born on 7 May 1969 in Wythenshawe, Manchester.[2][3][4] He was educated at Ilkley College and the University of Central England.[5]

Career[]

A careers advisor by trade, Amesbury previously worked as a manager with the Connexions careers advice service. He also worked as Senior Parliamentary Advisor to Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner and as political advisor and stakeholder manager on Andy Burnham's successful campaign to become Mayor of Greater Manchester.[6] He was a director of City South Manchester Housing Trust, an award-winning social enterprise providing affordable housing in the Fallowfield, Hulme, Moss Side and Whalley Range areas of south Manchester. He also served as a policy advisor to Tameside Council.

Political career[]

Amesbury joined the Labour Party as a 17-year-old after moving with his family to Yorkshire, where he says he was politicised by the impact on local families of Margaret Thatcher's political policies and the subsequent miners' strike.[4]

He served as a Regional Officer and Fundraising and Events Manager for Labour and was later elected to the party's National Policy Forum (NPF)—the policy making arm of The Labour Party.

Amesbury was elected to Manchester City Council representing Fallowfield Ward in 2006,[7] defeating the incumbent Liberal Democrat, and subsequently winning re-election in 2010 and 2014.[8][9] Rising to the position of Executive Member for Culture and Leisure, he helped bring the National Football Museum to the city.[10] He stood down following his election to the House of Commons, triggering a by-election in his ward in July 2017.[11]

Amesbury gained the Weaver Vale constituency from the Conservative incumbent Graham Evans in the 2017 general election on a swing of 4.3%.[12] He was named Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Shadow Department for Work and Pensions team in January 2018, and in July of the same year was promoted to Shadow Employment Minister.[13][14]

He is a member of the UNISON and GMB trade unions. He campaigned for 'remain' in the 2016 EU membership referendum.[15]

In 2019, Amesbury apologised for having shared an antisemitic caricature on Facebook in 2013, stating “I apologise unreservedly for this terrible error. I genuinely don’t recall sharing this image and I’m mortified that I did so. This appalling image image contains an antisemitic caricature and a reference to the ‘illuminati’ conspiracy theory. I would never have intentionally shared antisemitic tropes and I am sincerely sorry that I did.”[16]

Amesbury was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in the April 2020 reshuffle following Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader.[17] In the subsequent May 2021 reshuffle, his brief was reduced to the Shadow Minister for Housing, with Ruth Cadbury receiving the planning portfolio.[18]

In March 2020, Amesbury put forward a Private member's bill on education for a second reading. The Bill is seeking to reduce the cost of school uniforms.[19] In April 2021, the bill became law after it made it through final reading in the House of Lords and received Royal assent the following day.[20]

In 2020 Amesbury became one of four vice-chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing which has been subject to criticism by some campaigners on whistleblowing law reform.[21][22]

Personal life[]

Amesbury is married with a young son.[4]

He is a Manchester United fan and his interests include rugby league and indie music.[23]

References[]

  1. ^ Housing and Planning (2020-21)
  2. ^ "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11780.
  3. ^ "Mike Amesbury MP". myparliament.info. MyParliament. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Interview with Mike Amesbury MP". TalkPolitics. 2017-10-07. Archived from the original on 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  5. ^ "Amesbury, Mike". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 14 February 2018. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2019-12-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Election results - Local elections 2006 | Manchester City Council". www.manchester.gov.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  8. ^ "Election results - Local elections 2010 | Manchester City Council". www.manchester.gov.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  9. ^ "Election results - Local elections 2014 | Manchester City Council". www.manchester.gov.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  10. ^ News, Manchester Evening (2011-09-21). "Mather & Co scores with National Football Museum contract". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  11. ^ "Fallowfield By Election 27 July 2017 | Fallowfield By Election 27 July 2017 | Manchester City Council". secure.manchester.gov.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  12. ^ BBC News: Election results 2017: Labour gains Weaver Vale, Warrington South and Crewe and Nantwich Archived 2018-10-08 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 9 June 2017)
  13. ^ "Mike Amesbury promoted to Labour's Shadow team". Northwich Guardian. Archived from the original on 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  14. ^ "Appointments to Labour's frontbench – The Labour Party". The Labour Party. Archived from the original on 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  15. ^ McDougall, John (12 November 2019). "Here's the Labour candidate's policies for Weaver Vale". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  16. ^ Sugarman, Daniel (13 March 2019). "Labour Shadow Minister Mike Amesbury apologises for sharing 'antisemitic caricature' – after denying he had". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Mike Amesbury given shadow ministerial role by new Labour leader". Northwich Guardian. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  18. ^ Rodgers, Sienna. "Reshuffle: Keir Starmer's new Labour frontbench in full". LabourList. Retrieved 2021-05-15.
  19. ^ "Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill - Friday 13 March 2020 - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk.
  20. ^ Murphy, Scott (30 April 2021). "Northwich MP explains the purpose of his school uniform bill". Northwich Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Meet the team". APPG Whistleblowing. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  22. ^ "Home". The Whistler. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  23. ^ "Interviewing Mike Amesbury MP". TalkPolitics. Archived from the original on 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2018-10-25.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Graham Evans 		Member of Parliament for Weaver Vale
2017–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""