The disgraced former MP whose admission he watched porn in the House of Commons triggered a disastrous by-election defeat for Boris Johnson has told the prime minister to “face reality”.
Neil Parish said the result showed a “crisis of confidence” in the Conservative leader in the wake of the partygate scandal.
In a stunning victory, the Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000 Conservative majority to take the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton.
“What is becoming increasingly necessary is for the party, the MPs to consider what is the long-term position of the Prime Minister,” he told the BBC.
“The public are concerned. The people in Tiverton and Honiton have spoken and they’ve spoken loudly”.
“What we can’t do is ignore people, “ he added. “It is for the Prime Minister to look at this very seriously. The time for blustering I’m afraid is over, we’ve got to really face reality now.”
Mr Parish held the Tiverton and Honiton seat for over a decade before his downfall.
He resigned after he admitted watching porn in the Commons, following complaints from female Tory MPs.
Mr Parish said the he result was a “national vote really”.
The Conservative candidate to succeed him, Helen Hurford, “ran a good local campaign” but the result was “mainly” a vote against Mr Johnson.
He also warned his now former colleagues on the green benches in the Commons that they would have to decide whether the Prime Minister is a winner or not.
“At the end of the day it was a very safe seat, I did work hard and went cleanly and I think the emphasis now is for the party, the MPs to make that decision,” the former MP added.
He also admitted that the way in which his political career ended was a “terrible mistake” .
