I was just looking at tractors...
Tory MP quits after admitting he watched porn in Commons – but bizarrely claims he was only using his phone to find farm machinery
Tory MP caught twice watching pornography in the Commons bowed to pressure yesterday and confirmed he will resign.
Former farmer Neil Parish tried to excuse his behaviour by claiming he had been searching on his phone for websites about tractors when he first viewed indecent material – but admitted that the second time had been deliberate.
Wearing a farming gilet and referring to his ‘moment of madness’, Mr Parish, 65, told the BBC: ‘The situation was that… 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.’
Mr Parish, chairman of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, then admitted that his ‘biggest crime’ was the second incident, when he intentionally viewed pornography while waiting to vote.
The MP for Tiverton and Honiton in Devon denied watching the material in such a way that other people would see what he was viewing. He told BBC South West: ‘I make a full apology. A total full apology. It was not my intention to intimidate.’
He also told reporters that he and his wife Susan had previously received death threats, as he invoked the memory of his ‘great friend’ Tory MP Sir David Amess, who was stabbed to death by an Islamic State fanatic last year.
Two female Tory MPs claimed last week they had seen Mr Parish looking at adult content on his phone while he was sitting near them in the Commons Chamber – but his identity was not confirmed until Friday. Mr Parish, an MP since 2010, was suspended from the Tory Party later that day.
The MP, who referred himself to the Commons standards commissioner, had fended off calls to resign his seat immediately, saying he would quit if the watchdog ruled against him. His wife had also promised to stand by him. She said the incident was ‘very embarrassing’ but added: ‘If you were mad with every man who looked at pornography, you would not have many wives in the world.’
But yesterday, with even some
Tory MPs saying his position was untenable, Mr Parish confirmed to the BBC he would resign.
Former Euro MP Mr Parish said his behaviour had been a ‘moment of madness’, adding: ‘I was not proud of what I was doing’. The MP said he had decided to quit now, adding: ‘In the end I could see that the furore and the damage I was causTHE ing my family and my constituency and association, it was not worth carrying on.’
He said the first time he looked at pornography in the Commons had been accidental, adding: ‘But my crime – biggest crime – is that on another occasion I went in a second time. That was deliberate... that was sitting waiting to vote on the side of the Chamber.’
He said: ‘What I did was absolutely wrong. I was wrong, I was stupid, I lost sense of mind.’
Speaking yesterday outside his constituency home, an emotional Mr Parish told reporters: ‘I have had threats to my life and my wife.’
He clarified the threats had not been made since Friday night but said: ‘There are a couple of running ones that are quite nasty, actually.’
Mr Parish added: ‘You know what happened to David Amess… he was a great friend of mine.
‘I might have done things or I might not have done things but I am not here to be killed and I am not here to have my family threatened. I am not going to say any more until later. You will have plenty of blood then.’ Thangam
Debbonaire, Labour’s Shadow Commons leader, said Mr Parish was right to resign over his ‘disgusting behaviour’ but that it was ‘shocking the Conservatives had allowed this debacle to drag out over many days’.
Mr Parish’s resignation will trigger a by-election in his safe seat, where he had recorded a majority of 24,239 over Labour at the 2019 General Election.