MP Neil Parish says he may have opened porn in Commons by mistake

An MP under investigation for allegedly watching pornography in the House of Commons has claimed he may have opened it on his phone by mistake.

An inquiry has been launched after Neil Parish referred himself for investigation.

He has refused to resign as an MP or as head of the environment select committee until the inquiry concludes.

Two female colleagues complained after claiming to have seen him looking at adult content while sitting near them.

Mr Parish has been suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party, pending the outcome of the investigation by Parliament's standards commissioner Kathryn Stone.

If she finds that he has violated the code of conduct for MPs, possible punishments range from apologising to the Commons to suspension or expulsion.

Questioned by the BBC on Friday, Mr Parish said he would co-operate fully with the inquiry and would await the outcome before commenting.

"Of course it's embarrassing," he said. "And it's embarrassing for my wife and family, and so that's my main concern at the moment. I have a very supportive wife and I thank her for that."

Asked if it was a mistake, he said: "I will await the findings of the inquiry."

Pressed on whether he had opened something on his phone in error, Mr Parish said: "I did, but let the inquiry look at that."

Mr Parish also said he would resign if "found guilty" by the inquiry, saying he understood the upset he might have caused and "I apologise for that".

However, in a statement on his website, he said he would continue working as an MP and committee chair, despite calls from female colleagues for him resign or at least to stop attending Parliament while under investigation.

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On Wednesday, it emerged that a female minister had reported a male colleague for viewing pornographic material while sitting beside her in the Commons chamber. The female minister said she had also seen the MP watching pornography during a hearing of a select committee, The Times reported.

A second female Tory MP said she had tried but been unable to capture video proof of him doing so.

The allegations were subsequently revealed to have been made about Mr Parish, who said he had referred himself for investigation.

Mr Parish serves as the MP for Tiverton and Honiton in Devon and also chairs the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee - but the investigation does not prevent him from continuing in either role.

'Disgusting behaviour'

In an interview with the Times, Mr Parish's wife, Sue Parish, said the allegation was "very embarrassing" and described her husband as "quite a normal guy" and "a lovely person".

She added she did not see the attraction of pornography and understood why the women who had made the allegation were upset.

Labour accused the government of having known about the incident for days and attempting to "cover it up".

"It shouldn't have taken days for him to be referred to the process," Bridget Phillipson, Labour's shadow education secretary, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "It was clear no action had been taken and that for some days Conservative whips knew exactly who he was."

The delay by the whips to suspend Mr Parish from the Tory party was also criticised by Caroline Nokes, Conservative MP and chair of the women and equalities committee.

"I fully expected to wake up on the Wednesday morning and find that a member of Parliament had had the whip suspended.

"And I felt that by leaving it until Friday before we knew that action had been taken by the whips, that felt like unnecessary dither and delay."

She said the culture in the whips office was "still too blokey" and it was one of the challenges for the party.

The government's safeguarding minister Rachel Maclean denied that the Conservative Party was institutionally sexist, saying: "I think there is clearly a problem in the House of Commons. And I think it extends to all parties actually."

On the time it took the whips, she said: "There clearly needed to be some time to establish the veracity of what was said, the facts of the case. Where we've got to now is the right place we need to be, which is there is the investigation happening, the chief whip has taken the action he's taken."

Who is Neil Parish?

• The 65-year-old, an MP since 2010, was a Member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1999 to 2009

• He left school at 16 to manage his family's farm and, in 2000, was an election monitor during Zimbabwe's parliamentary election

• He opposed Brexit in the 2016 referendum and voted against the introduction of same-sex marriage by David Cameron's government

• Mr Parish is married and has two children and two grandchildren

Conservative party Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris has asked for the matter to be referred to Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to "tell Neil Parish to resign immediately", while environment committee member Kirsty Blackman of the SNP said Mr Parish should resign as chair of the committee

Mr Parish was questioned by GB News earlier this week about allegations an MP had been caught watching porn.

He told the broadcaster he expected the whips' office to "do a thorough investigation" which the party would "wait and see" the result of.

"I think from that then the decision will have to be made what action to be taken," Mr Parrish added.

The claims against Mr Parish follow a series of allegations about other MPs' behaviour.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said on Friday that she had once been "pinned up against a wall" by a male colleague and subject to misogyny and "wandering hands" on numerous occasions.

Attorney General Suella Braverman told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour there had to be a discussion about "moral standards", complaining that a minority of men in politics "behave like animals".

And a Welsh MP alleged that a member of Labour's shadow cabinet had made lewd remarks to her.