A senior Conservative MP, who is under investigation for allegedly watching pornography on his phone in the House of Commons, suggested he may have opened it by accident, but rejected calls to resign immediately.
Neil Parish, an MP from Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, was suspended after becoming the fourth MP from his party since the last election to face allegations of wrongdoing.
Parish revealed that he approached the standards commissioner on Friday afternoon after senior Tory women expressed outrage at the party for not taking action on complaints made earlier this week, despite being aware of his identity.
In a statement, the 65-year-old wrote on his website: “I will cooperate fully in any investigation and, while it is ongoing, I will continue to serve as an MP for Tiverton and Honiton.”
Asked later by TV operators if he had opened something by mistake in the House of Commons, he said: “I did, but let the investigation consider this.”
However, there were speculations that the Tory minister also saw him watching porn for the second time at a committee meeting.
Parish said he would consider his position as an MP after the outcome of the investigation, telling reporters: “I will not stay if I plead guilty.”
His wife, Sue Parish, told the Times that the allegations were “all very uncomfortable”, adding: “I was out of breath, to be honest.
“People should not watch pornography. He would never sit there with the people watching. He would never do that just knowing [people were looking]. These ladies were just right [upset] as they were. ”
Describing her husband as a “normal… wonderful man”, she added: “If you were angry with every man who watches pornography, you wouldn’t have many women in the world.
“It’s humiliating. This is humiliating. But on the other hand, tango requires two. There must be women posing for all this. “
Asked what the accusations about her husband’s career could mean, she said: “I have no idea. Depends on what Chris Heaton-Harris is [the Tory chief whip] he says, I guess. I don’t think it will continue, do I? It’s so stupid. He is such a good MP. He is such a good man. “
Labor accused the Tory whips of trying to “cover up” Parish before finally deciding to pull the whip on Friday.
If he is found to have harmed the Municipality, Parish could be sanctioned and faced with the possibility of a withdrawal petition, which could potentially trigger additional elections if suspended by parliament for more than 10 days.
Allegations of a parliamentarian watching porn were first leveled by Tory MPs at a meeting with Heaton-Harris, the party’s main whip, on Tuesday.
Heaton-Harris removed Parish, which has been his constituency since 2010, from the Conservative parliamentary party, pending the outcome of an investigation after they spoke on Friday afternoon.
Harriet Harman told BBC Radio 4 PM that Parish should step down as an MP. “This marks a new low for the House of Commons,” said the Labor MP. “It is not right for him to go through the investigation if he has done so. He is clearly not fit to be in parliament. He must accept this and not drag the processes.
It turned out that the Independent Complaints and Complaints Scheme (ICGS), which deals with allegations of harassment and sexual harassment, began examining the events after at least one witness had made a referral.
A second investigation could be launched following Parish’s commitment to turn to Catherine Stone, the independent parliamentary commissioner for standards, who can assess whether Parish violated the code of conduct for lawmakers by causing “significant damage to the reputation and integrity” of the municipality. .
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Parish gave an interview to GB News this week, in which he was asked about allegations of an unidentified Tory MP watching pornography in the municipality.
“I think the whips’ office will do a thorough investigation and we will wait and see this result and we will have to decide what action will be taken,” he said.
Pressed if there was a problem with culture in Westminster, Parish said: “We have about 650 members of parliament in a very intensive area. You will get people who cross the border. It needs to be worked on seriously. “
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