British lawmaker suspended indefinitely for 'watching porn' in parliament

Parish, a member of the ruling Conservative party, was suspended by his party on Friday, April 28, 2022, pending the outcome of the investigation into the allegation.

The suspended MP is a farmer and Chairman of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

According to AFP, the identification of the 65-year-old Parish put an end to days of speculation since the allegation surfaced on Tuesday.

This comes amid accusations of a misogynistic environment in the parliament.

“Having spoken to the Chief Whip this afternoon, Neil Parish MP is reporting himself to the Standards Committee of the House of Commons,” said a spokeswoman for Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris, who is in charge of party discipline.

“Mr Parish has been suspended from the Conservative whip pending the outcome of that investigation,” she said, meaning he has been temporarily suspended from the party.

Report said he was questioned about the porn allegation two days before he had been publicly identified.

Parish told GB News that, “I think the whips office will do a thorough investigation and we will wait and see that result and I think from that then the decision will have to be made what action will be taken.”

“We’ve got some 650 members of parliament in what is a very intense area,” Parish stated as he denied allegation of cultural problem in parliament.

“We are going to get people that step over the line. I don’t think there’s necessarily a huge culture here but I think it does have to be dealt with and dealt with seriously and that’s what the whips will do,” he added.

The parliament complaints office is currently probing at least 56 MPs, including three ministers, over allegations of sexual misconduct.