Tory MP suspended
Porn scandal embarrasses UK Parliament
4/29/2022, 9:47 p.m
In the British Parliament there have recently been accusations of sexism against numerous MPs. Now there is apparently a porn scandal. MP Neil Parish is said to have watched the film in the House of Commons – the Tory is not aware of any guilt. The incident already has consequences.
After porn allegations against British MP Neil Parish, his Tory party has drawn the first consequences. The 65-year-old MP has been suspended from the group pending an investigation into the allegations, a spokeswoman for the ruling Tory party’s Chief Whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, said.
Parish has been accused of watching pornography on his cellphone in the House of Commons. Parish himself wrote on his website that he was making himself available to the parliamentary ethics commissioner “in light of recent allegations in connection with the use of a mobile phone by an MP in Parliament”. He promised to cooperate with any conceivable investigation into the allegations. He intends to continue fulfilling his obligations as MP for the constituency of Tiverton and Honiton in south-west England.
Several opposition figures called on Parish to resign, including the longest-serving female Labor MP, Harriet Harman. “This is a new low for the House of Commons,” the former Women’s Secretary told the BBC. “If this is what he did, then he should resign from Parliament immediately,” she said of the allegations against Parish.
Parish sees no sexism problem in Parliament
Parish chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in the House of Commons. The 65-year-old had already commented on the allegations on Wednesday – at that time it was not even known to the public that the accusation of watching porn in Parliament was directed against himself. He assumes that Heaton-Harris will carry out a “thorough investigation” into the allegations, Parish told GB News on Wednesday. He denied that there was a sexism problem in the British Parliament.
The UK Parliament’s Complaints Office is currently investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against 56 MPs. Most recently, the ruling Tory party was at the center of these allegations. The Mail on Sunday newspaper had reported that several Conservative MPs accused Labor politician Angela Rayner of wanting to distract Prime Minister Boris Johnson by deliberately displaying her legs.