Michael Lee Amesbury (born 7 May 1969) is a British politician serving as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Weaver Vale Weaver Vale is a constituency in Cheshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Mike Amesbury, a member of the Labour Party. Constituency profile The constituency takes its name from the River Weaver, which f ...

since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was Shadow Minister for Local Government until 2022. He previously served as Shadow Minister for Employment from 2018 to 2020 and Shadow Minister for Housing from 2020 to 2021.

Education

Amesbury was born on 7 May 1969 in

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He was educated at Ilkley College and the

University of Central England , mottoeng = "Do what you are doing; attend to your business" , established = 1992—gained university status1971—City of Birmingham Polytechnic1843— Birmingham College of Art , type = Public , affiliation = ...

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 Angela Rayner (' Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work since 2021. She has been Shad ...

and as political advisor and stakeholder manager on Andy Burnham's successful campaign to become

Mayor of Greater Manchester The Mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected metro mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the Greater ...

. 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. 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 Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

representing Fallowfield Ward in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, defeating the incumbent

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

, and subsequently winning re-election in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. Rising to the position of Executive Member for Culture and Leisure from 2008 to 2012, he helped bring the

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia. The museum was originally b ...

to the city. He stood down following his election to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

, triggering a by-election in his ward in July 2017. Amesbury gained the

constituency from the Conservative incumbent

Graham Evans Graham Thomas Evans, Baron Evans of Rainow (born 10 November 1963) is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Weaver Vale in Cheshire from 2010 until 2017. Early life and career Evans was born on a cou ...

in the 2017 general election on a swing of 4.3%. 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. He is a member of the

UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

and GMB trade unions. He campaigned for 'remain' in the 2016 EU membership referendum. In 2019, Amesbury apologised for having shared an antisemitic caricature on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

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 The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...

’ conspiracy theory. I would never have intentionally shared antisemitic tropes and I am sincerely sorry that I did.” Amesbury was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in the April 2020 reshuffle following Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader. In the subsequent May 2021 reshuffle, his brief was reduced to the Shadow Minister for Housing, with Ruth Cadbury receiving the planning portfolio. In March 2020, Amesbury put forward a

Private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

on education for a second reading. The Bill is seeking to reduce the cost of school uniforms. In April 2021, the bill became law after it made it through final reading in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

and received

Royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

the following day. 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.

Personal life

Amesbury is married and has a young son. He is a

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

fan and his interests include

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

indie music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to r ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amesbury, Mike Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2017–2019 Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in Manchester People educated at Castleford Academy Alumni of the University of Bradford Alumni of Birmingham City University UK MPs 2019–present People from Wythenshawe 1969 births