Disgraced Labour MP Mike Amesbury has announced that he is quitting, meaning a Runcorn by-election will test Keir Starmer’s Labour against Reform UK.

Amesbury [pictured] was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison over a drunken incident in which he punched another man to the ground. The sentence was suspended by a judge three days later.

The conviction meant his constituents could launch a recall petition and, if enough of them signed, potentially vote him out of his Parliamentary seat.

This will now be unnecessary as, in a BBC interview, Amesbury has announced that he will be standing down “as quickly as possible”.

This puts prime minister Keir Starmer in a sticky situation. Labour’s poll ratings are in the cess pit after eight months of attacks on the party’s core constituency – parents, people in poverty – and those it should want to attract – farmers and pensioners.

The Tories are nowhere right now, meaning Starmer’s main opposition will be Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Reform has also taken a few hits lately, with its leader’s handling of the row over Rupert Lowe and the unpopularity of his closeness to President Trump – but voters who support his anti-immigrant stance are unlikely to be put off.

So now Labour is longlisting candidates for selection.

Some might say the process should not take long; Starmer likes to choose from his own supporters and he can’t have many of those left.