Porn MP quits saying he damaged family...
...but insists he was Googling tractors , NOT looking for mucky movies
DISGRACED MP Neil Parish said last night he will quit, after he admitted viewing pornography in the House of Commons chamber – and claimed he stumbled across it by accident as he searched for tractors on the internet.
He initially hoped to cling on to his seat by explaining himself to a Commons inquiry but announced his resignation after an outpouring of anger from MPS in all parties.
“I could see the furore, the damage I was causing my family and my constituency,” said Mr Parish.
While he claimed the first incident of watching porn in Parliament came after an online hunt for tractors, he admitted there were no excuses for a second viewing, while waiting to vote in the Commons.
The senior MP, who chairs the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, admitted: “What I did was absolutely, totally wrong.”
It means there will be a by-election in his Devon constituency of
Tiverton and Honiton, where the Conservatives were victorious with a majority of 24,239 in 2019.
The Prime Minister now faces two potentially difficult byelections, with another poll expected in marginal Wakefield, where MP Imran Ahmad Khan has tendered his resignation after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
Explaining himself in a BBC interview, Mr Parish, 65, said: “Funnily enough, it was tractors I was looking at. I did get into another website that had a very similar name and I watched it for a bit which I shouldn’t have done.
“But my crime – biggest crime – is that on another occasion I went in a second time.”
The second time he viewed the pornography was inside the House of Commons chamber as he was sat waiting to vote, he said.
Looking distraught, Mr Parish said: “I was wrong, I was stupid, I lost sense of mind.”
But he insisted he had tried to hide what he was doing from other MPS and had not intended to upset anyone. “I make a full apology.a total full apology. It was not my intention to intimidate.”
The past week had seen Westminster gripped by allegations of bullying and sexual
misconduct, after two female Conservative MPS claimed they witnessed a colleague looking at pornography on a mobile phone.
It prompted speculation about the identity of the culprit, until Mr Parish announced he was referring himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, the MPS’ watchdog. He was immediately suspended from the parliamentary party.
Cabinet minister Anne-marie Trevelyan, the International Trade Secretary, then revealed that she was once pinned up against the wall by an unnamed male MP. There was also uproar about a newspaper report which featured a claim by an unnamed Tory MP that Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner crossed and uncrossed her legs to distract Boris Johnson.
Meanwhile, Labour MP Liam Byrne, a former Cabinet minister, was suspended from the Commons for two days for bullying a former member of staff.
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Kathryn Stone, said his behaviour was a “significant misuse of power”. Commons
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle last night called for a review of working practices in Parliament.
The Speaker said: “I take recent allegations of bullying and sexual impropriety, comments and advances very seriously.”
He is particularly concerned about employment practices in Parliament, where MPS employ staff, such as researchers, directly.
It means many of those working at Westminster have nobody to turn to, such as a human resources department, if they experience mistreatment at the hands of their employer. Sir Lindsay said: “The question is: should someone else – or an outside body – employ the staff, as long as the MP has the right to choose them?
“That is why I am working with the political parties and House authorities to establish a ‘Speaker’s conference’ as soon as possible to consider these issues.”
The main aim of the conference is to reach cross-party agreement and to make recommendations to the House on the case for change.
Sir Lindsay will need approval from the Government and the Commons as a whole for his proposal to go ahead.
There is widespread agreement that the culture of Westminster needs to change, with female MPS complaining of an “old boys’ club” mentality.
Liz Saville Roberts, an MP who advised on how to stamp out bullying and sexual harassment in the wake of the #Metoo scandals, says it is now clear that efforts to clean up Parliament have failed.
Ms Saville Roberts, who leads the Plaid Cymru group of MPS, said a “deeply sexist culture
‘What I did was totally wrong’ ‘A deeply sexist culture prevails’
prevails” and called for action “at the very top” to make Westminster’s working practices fit for the 21st century.
Conservative MP Virginia Crosbie echoed calls for radical change.
She said: “My hope is this is now a watershed moment where Parliament looks seriously to clean up its act.
“I remain shocked at what has been alleged and I am pleased there will be a thorough investigation.
“We also actually need to be able to move on and start talking about the good work we do as parliamentarians rather than about porn and bad behaviour by a tiny minority.”
Labour MP Anna Mcmorrin said: “Misogyny and sexism is ingrained into the fabric of the place. It has been an old boys’ club forever and we have made strides but not enough.”
However a Conservative female MP said: “I have never experienced anything myself or witnessed anything.
“Being in Parliament has been the most supportive and collegiate place I’ve ever worked, with nothing inappropriate said or done. These things being reported are very sad.”