••• The Guardian Saturday 30 April 2022(^6) National
xSubjectxxxx
National
Politics
▼ Neil Parish speaking during
prime minister’s questions in the
House of Commons last month
PHOTOGRAPH: UK PARLIAMENT/JESSICA TAYLOR/PA
Conservative MP Neil Parish faces
investigation over porn allegations
▲ Neil Parish arrives at his home
in Somerset yesterday
Continued from page 1
When asked what the accusations
could mean for her husband’s career,
she replied: “I’ve got no idea. It
depends on what Chris Heaton-Harris
[the Tory chief whip] says, I suppose.
I don’t think it’s going to carry on, is
it? It’s so stupid. He’s such a good MP.
He’s such a good person.”
Labour accused the Tory whips of
trying to “cover up” for Parish before
they ultimately took the decision to
withdraw the whip yesterday.
If found to have brought the Com-
mons into disrepute, Parish could
face action and ultimately the possi-
bility of a recall petition – potentially
triggering a byelection– if suspended
from parliament for more than 10
days. He could also face similar pen-
alties through the ICGS, which can
look at cases of sexual harassment.
The Commons itself would need to
authorise the most severe sanctions
of suspension or expulsion.
With dismay among female
MPs about the scale of sexism and
misogyny in parliament, Boris
Johnson is now facing calls from
women within his party to take their
concerns more seriously. One Tory
peer described a “toxic mix of stress
and booze and testosterone and
power” that was diffi cult to tackle.
It comes less than a week after the
whips said they would take steps to
identify which anonymous Tory MP
was responsible for accusing Angela
Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, of
crossing and uncrossing her legs in
parliament in order to distract John-
son. The story in the Mail on Sunday
prompted widespread anger.
One Tory MP and former cabi-
net minister said she thought Parish
should have been “suspended with
immediate eff ect” and referred to the
standards system by the whips.
Another MP described the whips’
reaction as “useless” and said that
was typical of their failure to take
women in the party seriously. They
also said a culture of failing to tackle
mis ogyny had “come from the top”.
Johnson responded to the porn-
ography claim by saying it was
“obviously unaccept able for anybody
to be doing that kind of thing in the
workplace”.
A spokesperson for Heaton- Harris
said Parish had report ed himself to
the parliamentary authorities, add-
ing: “Mr Parish has been suspended
from the Conservative whip pending
the outcome of that investigation .”
The standards commissioner,
Kathryn Stone , can investigate if MPs
have complied with the Commons
code of conduct , which says MPs
must “never undertake any action
which would bring the House of Com-
mons, or its members generally, into
disrepute”.
Parish has held the safe seat of
Tiverton and Honiton since 2010.
He is chair of the Efra select commit-
tee and is known at Westminster as a
champion for animals and farming.
Thangam Debbonaire , the shadow
leader of the House , said: “The Con-
servatives knew for days about the
disgusting behaviour of one of their
MPs and tried to cover it up.
“From the Owen Paterson scan-
dal to their failure to act against their
paedophile MP Imran Ahmad Khan,
this is a government rotting from the
head down. Britain deserves better.”
Before Parish’s name emerged,
several Conservative MPs, including
Nickie Aiken and Simon Hoare , had
called on the unnamed MP accused
of watching pornography to resign
rather than risk others being accused.
Anne Jenkin, a peer and cofounder
of the Women2Win group trying to
get more Conservative women into
politics, said she thought women
would not be put off by incidents
of sexual misconduct but it would
“make them angry and angry is good
in this space because it’s more likely
for women to say: ‘Well I’ve got to go
into politics to get rid of this stuff ’.”
She added: “It’s a toxic mix of
stress and booze and testosterone
and power that makes it so diffi cult.
“And I don’t know what the solu-
tion is because you can’t do anything
about testosterone and you can’t
do much about the stress of it and
the power is inevitable. You can do
something about the booze. I mind
about values and I think there’s a lot
of Conservatives who are extremely
embarrassed by what is going on.”
Parish gave an interview to GB
News earlier this week in which he
was asked about allegations of a
then-unidentifi ed MP watching porn-
ography. “I think the whips’ offi ce
will do a thorough investigation and
we will wait and see that result ... then
the decision will have to be made
what action will be taken,” he said.
Asked if there was a problem with the
culture at Westminster, Parish said:
“ We’ve got some 650 members of par-
liament in what is a very intense area.
You are going to get people who step
over the line .”
He added: “It does have to be dealt
with and dealt with seriously.”
▲ Neil Parish arrives at his home
in Somerset yesterday