A British MP has been sentenced to 10 weeks’ imprisonment for punching a constituent after a night out, and is now likely to be ousted from parliament and face an election for his seat in a test for the ruling Labour Party.

Mike Amesbury was expelled from the Labour Party after security camera footage was released showing him punching a man in October and repeatedly hitting him after the man fell to the ground.

Amesbury, MP for the constituency of Runcorn and Helsby in north-west England, had initially claimed he felt under threat at the time of the incident.

The 55-year-old appeared at Chester Magistrates’ Court, where prosecutor Alison Story said a civilian approached Amesbury while the latter was waiting in a taxi queue shortly after 2am on October 26. The citizen approached him to protest the closure of a local bridge, scolding the MP.

At that point, Amesbury punched the man, knocking him to the ground, and then punched him at least five times while the man was on the ground, the prosecutor said.

Afterward, Amesbury told the man: “You’re not going to threaten your congressman again, are you? Sh…wimp.”