UK Politics

Neil Parish resigns after admitting to watching pornography twice in the House of CommonsNeil Parish has resigned as a Tory MP after admitting to watching pornography in the Commons chamber twice, in what he described as a “moment of madness”The Tiverton and Honiton MP, who is a farmer, said he first watched adult content by mistake after looking at tractors on his mobile phone. However, he admitted the second time was deliberate.“I was not proud of what I was doing,” he told BBC South West, in an interview which saw him tear up. “I’m not going to defend what I did … it was absolutely wrong.” But he denied watching the material in a way where he hoped other people would see it. Two female colleagues, on Tuesday, reported they had seen him looking at pornography while sitting near them. On Friday, Mr Parish had the whip suspended and referred himself to the standards committee, but ignored calls to resign immediately. However, he said today he had changed his mind after seeing the pain and damage it was causing his family, his constituency and local association. “I make a full apology. A total full apology,” he said.Show latest update

1651330272Rayner doubts Parish’s reason for viewing porn in CommonsAngela Rayner has ridiculed outgoing Tory Neil Parish following his BBC interview, in which he confirmed he would resign as an MP for watching pornography in the Commons.Explaining how the situation came about, Mr Parish, who is a farmer, claimed he was looking at tractors when he “got into another website that had a very similar name”.He also admitted to deliberately viewing similar content at another time while inside the debating chamber. “My crime – biggest crime – is that on another occasion I went in a second time,” he said.Responding to his claims, Ms Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said mockingly: “He was looking for tractors but ended up with porn actors? Neil Parish must think you were all born yesterday.” In a tweet, she added:Sam Hancock30 April 2022 15:511651329687Watch: Parish resigns after admitting to watching porn in CommonsNeil Parish resigns after admitting to watching pornography in the CommonsSam Hancock30 April 2022 15:411651328455Parish admits losing all ‘decency’ but denies watching porn as form of intimidationMore from Neil Parish’s BBC interview now, during which he said viewing porn in the House of Commons was a “moment of madness” and “I was not proud of what I was doing”.He continued: “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. But my crime – biggest crime – is that on another occasion I went in a second time.”When asked whether viewing the porn for a second time had been deliberate, he said: “That was deliberate… that was sitting waiting to vote on the side of the chamber.” But he denied watching the material in a way where he hoped other people would see it. He added: “What I did was absolutely totally wrong.”Asked what “possesed” him to view the material in parliament, Mr Parish described his actions as “madness, total madness”, and accepted he had lost what he claimed had been “one of the best reputations ever” in the House of Commons. He went on:“I think I must have taken complete leave of my senses and my sensibilities and my sense of decency and everything. I’m not defending what I did for one moment, but I thought the best thing I can do – and that’s why I want to put this on record – is absolutely tell the truth.”The disgraced official finished by issuing “a full apology. A total full apology.” More

BBC’s Chris Mason will have to grill ministers and distil complicated Westminster stories for millions of viewers in his new job as the corporation’s political editor.But, it can be revealed, the Yorkshireman honed his skills as a student journalist quizzing a rather different interviewee – a notorious brothel keeper.Mason, who currently hosts Radio 4’s Any Questions?, will be filling Laura Kuenssberg’s shoes after the May elections. He is reportedly considered a safe pair of hands within the organisation and was praised for his “calm, incisive analysis” by a BBC executive when the move was announced.A keen student journalist at Cambridge university, the 42-year-old co-founded The Cambridge Student newspaper in the winter of 1999 and held a number of editorial roles.In an article from the 2 November 2000 issue, Mason interviewed Cynthia Payne, a madam who was put on trial in 1980 for running a “disorderly house”. More

Conservative Neil Parish is expected to announce today that he is resigning as an MP after being accused of watching pornography on his phone in the House of Commons chamber.A party source told the PA news agency that the Tiverton and Honiton MP was likely to make his decision clear by the end of Saturday.Mr Parish had the Conservative whip suspended on Friday after referring himself to the Commons standards commissioner for investigation of complaints made by two female Tory MPs to chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris on Tuesday.The 65-year-old initially insisted he would continue to represent his east Devon constituency in Westminster, and remain as chair of the Commons Environment Committee, until Kathryn Stone’s inquiry is concluded – a process which could take months.But he was coming under increasing pressure from fellow-MPs who said that if he had viewed adult material in the Commons chamber he should go immediately.There is concern in Tory high command over the damage which could be done to the party’s reputation in the crucial days before local elections taking place across Britain on Thursday.Caroline Dinenage, a Conservative member of the Commons women and equalities committee, said Parish should go, saying: “I cannot see how his position is sustainable.”And the committee’s chair, Caroline Nokes, said she was disappointed at the delay before he was suspended from the party.“I fully expected to wake up on the Wednesday morning and find that a Member of Parliament had the whip suspended,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I was very disappointed when there wasn’t immediate action by the chief whip to do that. I think it was important, not least because a cloud was hanging over other colleagues’ heads because nobody knew the identity.“And to be frank, as a female parliamentarian, I wanted reassurance from the whips that they were going to take this seriously and act.”Labour has accused Conservative party whips of a “shameful” delay in taking action over the allegations against Mr Parish.Labour frontbencher Bridget Phillipson told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “What we’ve seen is absolutely shocking. And really, there can be no place for that in parliament or any workplace.“It shouldn’t have taken days for him to be referred to the process. That doesn’t necessarily involve him being named, but it was clear no action had been taken.“For some days Conservative whips knew exactly who he was. And at the same time, of course, people in the House of Commons – and that’s not just MPs, thousands of people work there – would be concerned about what that would mean.“This isn’t just a case about MPs. It’s a workplace for many people and they’ve got every right to feel safe when they are at work. That’s why it’s shameful it’s taken so long for action to happen.” More

Watching pornography in a public place should be made a criminal offence in the UK, the author of a keystone new report on misogyny has told The Independent in the wake of Tory MP Neil Parish’s suspension for viewing adult material in the Commons.Eminent barrister and peer Helena Kennedy said that had been a dramatic and alarming increase in recent years in men viewing hardcore porn on trains or buses when seated next to women they do not know or showing women graphic pictures in workplaces, pubs and clubs, apparently getting a thrill from the discomfort and distress they cause.She said her year-long inquiry for the Scottish government,published last month, found that social media and easy access to porn on phones has created an “incredible disinhibiting effect” which has transformed the kind of abuse women face in public places.Like other forms of misogyny, the act of making women look at pornographic images against their will is often undertaken as a demonstration of power, with men using it to “put women in their place”, she said.And for some men in positions of authority, like MPs, may be even more prone to this kind of action because of the risk-taking and domineering personalities which drive their careers.“Something has happened in recent times,” said Baroness Kennedy. “It’s not new for women to be sexually harassed and have people being predatory and behaving in an inappropriate sexual way – rubbing themselves up against you, touching you and commenting on you inappropriately, all that stuff.“What became very clear to me when taking evidence for my inquiry was that social media has had an incredible disinhibiting effect on people.“We know that people feel disinhibited about what they can say online, but it’s now shifted and it people are now disinhibited in in the public square and in the workplace – they do things and say things now that would never be said five or 10 years ago.“Something has just multiplied and magnified all of this and I believe that social media has a lot to answer for.”Evidence was given to Lady Kennedy’s inquiry of men viewing hardcore porn – including videos of sex with animals – on buses in such a way as to ensure women sitting beside them could see it.“There’s some sort of titillation they get from discomforting a woman with this stuff,” she told The Independent.“You would have expected that Westminster would have been above the fray all of this. You expect better conduct from mature people who have responsibilities and must consciously be mindful of the ways in which this could have consequences.“But often people who are in positions of authority and power, do these things even more outrageously than other people because they somehow imagine they have impunity.”Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon last month welcomed the Kennedy report’s recommendation for the creation of a law making misogyny an aggravating factor in offences against women, which is currently under consideration by the Scottish government.Lady Kennedy said she would like to see the inquiry’s recommnedations taken up in Westminster too, including a new offence of public misogynistic harassment which would cover forcing a woman to view porn against her will.“It has to be made clear to the men doing these things that there are consequences,” she said.“It’s about sexual harassment in a public place. My strong view that there has to be a public misogynistic harassment offense.“We need we need it to be criminalised. Scotland’s ahead of the game because they’re in favour of doing it and it should be done in Westminster too.”Lady Kennedy said that the complaints and grievance systems set up in the wake of the Pestminster scandals of 2017 must be reviewed and strengthened to take account of the rapid development of the problem over the last few years.“One of the problems in all of this is that women who complain very often suffer the consequences,” she said. “Their own political party or their employer is angry with them for bringing the spotlight down on them in a negative way. They get the anger of other male members of parliament or other people in their workplace who see them a troublemaker.” More

The chair of Westminster’s women and equalities committee has described the atmosphere in the House of Commons as being like “a boys’ prep school”.Caroline Nokes revealed that she has stopped attending early-morning meetings of Tory MPs because of inappropriate comments and no longer went to the party’s annual conference because of the “horrible” behaviour she experience.Speaking amid intense debate over misogyny in parliament sparked by the news that Tory Neil Parish watched porn in the Commons chamber, Ms Nokes revealed that she had personally been subjected to male MPs “touching, staring, bullying, trashing my reputation”.Speaking on the Chopper’s Politics podcast, Ms Nokes criticised a “locker room” culture in the Commons which made it feel like “a boy’s prep school [except] the inmates haven’t quite got to 13”.“The stark reality is that there is still a culture of banter which in any other workplace would have been stamped out long ago,” she said.“There have been incidents that I’ve reported to whips. MPs inappropriately touching me. I can remember being bullied by one.”Ms Nokes added that “horrible things” had happened to her, including “touching, staring, bullying, trashing my reputation”.Explaining why she no longer attends Conservative annual conference, Ms Nokes said: “I’ve had some horrible, horrible incidents happen there.“The bars are horrible. The receptions are horrible. I can remember a male parliamentarian touching my arm inappropriately in the breakfast room in the hotel in Birmingham. Just stroked my arm over breakfast. Horrific.”Ms Nokes said: “There is something about politics that attracts a certain type of particularly macho willy-waving man.“It is a profession where people who are assertive and domineering are attracted to it. And I think that causes challenges.” More

Neil Parish’s wife has revealed that she first learnt that her husband was the MP accused of watching porn in the Commons from a journalist.The Tory MP’s name was confirmed publicly by the Conservative whips’ office around 3pm on Friday, but it was not until he returned home later that day that Mr Parish confessed to his wife – by which time she had already been told the details in a phone call from a reporter.Speaking alongside his wife in their Somerset farmhouse home last night, the 65-year-old Tiverton and Honiton MP told the Daily Telegraph that having the accusation in the open was “almost as if a weight is lifted off me”.Mr Parish has previously admitted he did not come clean with his wife about the allegations levelled at him on Tuesday evening by two Tory women MPs until Friday afternoon, saying a flat mobile phone battery stopped him speaking to her when his name first became public that day.Reports suggest that he broke down in tears when the pair finally met, telling her: “I’m sorry you married such an idiot.”Mrs Parish, 66, made clear that she was standing by her husband of 41 years, saying that the matter had been settled between them to her satisfaction.She said she first discovered that the MP at the centre of the porn scandal was her husband when a reporter called to ask for comment.“I didn’t know anything about it until he rang and said, ‘Oh, you know what I’m ringing about…’” she said.“I didn’t know who was more embarrassed, actually, me or him, poor chap.”Mr Parish hailed his wife as “amazingly loyal and better than I deserve”, to which she responded with a chuckle: “That’s for sure.”In his first public comment on the case, on Friday afternoon, the MP of 12 years’ standing, who chairs the Commons environment committee, made a point of thanking his wife publicly for her support.“Of course it’s embarrassing, and it’s embarrassing for my wife and family,” he said. “I have a very supportive wife and I thank her for that.”Mrs Parish said her husband was “quite a normal guy, really, a lovely person”, adding: “It’s just so stupid.”She said that the female MPs who complained about Mr Parish were “quite right” to be upset”, adding: “He would never just sit there with people looking. He would never just do that knowing [people were looking]”.But she added: “If you were mad with every man who looked at pornography, you would not have many wives in the world.”Mrs Parish said she did not understand the attraction of pornography. “I’m a woman,” she said. “Hence why the women were so cross. It’s degrading. It’s demeaning.”Despite calls for his immediate resignation Mr Parish told the Telegraph that he aimed to remain an MP and chair of the environment committee until an inquiry by Commons standards commissioner Sue Gray concludes – a process which could take months.“Strangely, now it’s out in the open, it’s almost as if a weight is lifted off me, really,” he said.“So we will let it take this process now. Whatever people may say, I’ve been a pretty hard-working MP and I shall carry on doing so until such time as I make a decision either to remain or to go.” More

The Conservative Party has become “very laddish” under Boris Johnson’s leadership, a former minister for women has said.Speaking in the wake of MP Neil Parish’s suspension from the party for watching porn in the Commons chamber, Anne Milton said she was “angry” that those at the top of the party had failed to lead by example by showing high standards of behaviour, including over the Partygate scandal.Ms Milton, who served in the governments of David Cameron and Theresa May, but was stripped of the Tory whip by Johnson for refusing to vote for a no-deal Brexit and lost her Guildford seat after 14 years standing as an independent in 2019, said women had been given a less prominent role under the current leader.Asked if there was a culture of sexism in the Tory Party, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s over two years since I left politics and it feels like it’s got worse. It feels it’s very laddish.“You don’t see women being put up for the press conferences or doing the media round. There’s a lot of people running around with high-vis jackets and making allusions to rugby scrum.“So it feels very laddish.”Ms Milton, who was Tory deputy chief whip from 2015-17, made clear that she believes Mr Johnson’s example – including his fine for breaching Covid lockdown laws – had set the tone for his MPs’ behaviour .“I think what’s more important than anything else at the moment – and I actually feel quite angry about this – is everybody in leadership positions should demonstrate by example high standards of behavior,” she said.“You need to constantly remind people that you expect those standards of behavior at all times. It is really shocking and depressing what we’ve been hearing over the last few weeks.”Ms Milton said that the atmosphere in parliament “smells of boys”. Sexist attitudes were often displayed not in outright hostility towards women but by condescension and over-familiarity, she said.“I’ve experienced sexism a little bit, not that directly,” she said. “It is rather oblique.“You make a speech in the House of Commons, an arm goes around your shoulder from a man and he says ‘That was really very good’, in a rather patronizing way. There is there’s no doubt about it, the whole place smells of boys.” More

Labour has accused Conservative party whips of delaying action over the MP accused of watching pornography in parliament, saying it was “shameful” that it was three days before Neil Parish was suspended from the party and referred himself for investigation.The 65-year-old MP for Tiverton and Honiton is understood to have been identified to chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris by two female MPs on Tuesday, but his name was not revealed until Friday, when he submitted himself for an inquiry by Commons standards commissioner Kathryn Stone.Mr Parish has had the Tory whip suspended, but insisted he will not quit parliament while the inquiry takes place. He indicated that he will argue he opened the adult material in error, but added that he will stand down if found guilty.But he is coming under pressure from fellow-Tories to resign immediately, with Caroline Dinenage, who sits on the women and equalities committee, saying: “I cannot see how his position is sustainable. It is just utterly bizarre.” The committe’s chair Caroline Nokes, who was present at Tuesday’s meeting, said she was “disappointed” the whip was not removed immediately and blasted “unnecessary dither and delay” in taking action.“I fully expected to wake up on the Wednesday morning and find this a Member of Parliament had the whip suspended,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“I was very disappointed when there wasn’t immediate action by the chief whip to do that. I think it was important, not least because a cloud was hanging over other colleagues’ heads because nobody knew the identity.“And to be frank, as a female parliamentarian, I wanted reassurance from the whips that they were going to take this seriously and act.”Labour frontbencher Bridget Phillipson said the delay in naming and suspending Parish was “shameful” and left thousands of parliamentary staff unable to feel safe at work.“What we’ve seen is absolutely shocking,” Ms Phillipson told Today. “And really, there can be no place for that in parliament or any workplace.“It shouldn’t have taken days for him to be referred to the process. That doesn’t necessarily involve him being named, but it was clear no action had been taken.“For some days Conservative whips knew exactly who he was. And at the same time, of course, people in the House of Commons – and that’s not just MPs, thousands of people work there – would be concerned about what that would mean.“This isn’t just a case about MPs. It’s a workplace for many people and they’ve got every right to feel safe when they are at work. That’s why it’s shameful it’s taken so long for action to happen.”The Conservative minister for safeguarding women, Rachel Maclean, said that Mr Heaton-Harris had taken the right action, adding that “there clearly needed to be some time to establish the veracity of what was said the facts of the case”. There would be no place for Mr Parish in the party “if this is substantiated and those allegations turn out to be true”, she said.Ms Maclean said it was a matter for Mr Parish whether he stayed on as an MP while the inquiry proceeds, but suggested that measures will be taken when he is dealing with female constituents.“I want to be clear he is not continuing his business as normal,” she told Times Radio. “He’s under investigation, and I’m confident that the appropriate measures will be put in place to safeguard any of his constituents, particularly women and girls.”Ms Maclean rejected the idea that the Conservative Party was “institutionally sexist”. She told Today: “I don’t agree with that characterization. I think there is clearly a problem in the House of Commons and I think it extends to all parties. My experience of my party is that my male colleagues have been supportive, friendly, respectful, professional, courteous.” More