Fri Apr 29, 2022 4:22 pm
Tory MP Neil Parish is being investigated for allegedly watching pornography in the Commons Chamber.
He has been suspended from the parliamentary party.
The Tiverton and Honiton MP had the Tory whip withdrawn on Friday.
Now the 65-year-old is waiting for the result of the investigation after a conversation with Tory Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris.
A spokeswoman for Tory Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris said: “Having spoken to the Chief Whip this afternoon, Neil Parish MP is reporting himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
“Mr Parish has been suspended from the Conservative whip pending the outcome of that investigation.”
An investigation by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) was launched after the allegations surfaced during a meeting of Tory MPs on Tuesday.
Mr Parish is the chair of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
He has represented the Tiverton and Honiton constituency in Devon since 2019.
Following his decision to refer himself to Commons authorities, officials said the independent standards commissioner Kathryn Stone would initially investigate Mr Parish.
A separate inquiry by Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) is also under way meaning Mr Parish now faces two probes into his conduct.
An ICGS inquiry into an MP’s conduct can only be opened if the individuals directly involved make a complaint.
There was anger from some Tory MPs that Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris failed to remove the whip from the MP at the centre of the claims earlier this week and suggested the matter be raised with the ICGS.
A spokesman for the House of Commons said he couldn’t confirm or deny if the ICGS had now opened an inquiry.
He added: "Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) operates on the basis of confidentiality for the benefit of all parties.
“Therefore, we cannot provide any information on complaints or investigation, including whether or not a complaint has been received or whether an investigation is ongoing."
Sat Apr 30, 2022 8:29 pm
UK lawmaker resigns after admitting twice watching porn in parliament
LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - A British lawmaker who had been suspended from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party said on Saturday he had resigned after admitting he twice viewed pornography on his phone in the House of Commons "in a moment of madness."
The Conservatives suspended Neil Parish on Friday after he reported himself to parliament's standards commissioner.
Parish resigned on Saturday, having previously said he would continue as a member of parliament while an investigation was carried out. read more
"In the end I could see that the furore and the damage I was causing my family and my constituency association, it just wasn't worth carrying on," a tearful Parish told the BBC in an interview on Saturday.
Parish, a farmer, said the first time he had viewed the explicit material he had stumbled across it by accident when looking for tractors on a website with a similar name, and had then "watched it for a bit which I shouldn't have done".
"But my crime, most biggest crime is that on another occasion I went in a second time and that was deliberate. That was sitting waiting to vote on the side of the chamber."
Asked what had been going through his mind, he described it as "a moment of madness".
Earlier this week British media had reported that a female minister said she had seen a male colleague viewing pornographic material while sitting beside her in the Commons chamber and the same lawmaker watching pornography during a committee hearing.
"I was not proud of what I was doing," Parish said, adding that he had not intended those around him would see it.
"I am not going to defend what I did. What I did was absolutely, totally wrong ... I think I must have taken complete leave of my senses."
In an interview with The Times newspaper published before his resignation, Parish's wife said she was not aware of her husband having done anything similar before and that her husband was "a lovely person".
"It was all very embarrassing," the newspaper quoted Sue Parish as saying. "My breath was taken away, frankly."