Neil Parish: countryside stalwart who dreamt of much more

On Wednesday afternoon, after prime minister’s questions, Neil Parish went for lunch with Sue, his wife of 40 years, in one of parliament’s many canteens.

Hours beforehand it had emerged that a Conservative MP stood accused of watching pornography in the House of Commons chamber and in a committee hearing.

If Parish suspected that he might be the MP in question, he gave little indication of it at lunch, when witnesses said he seemed unruffled as he joked with colleagues in the queue for the Thai beef stir fry.

Nor was there any hint of Parish being implicated in the scandal later that day when he appeared on GB News. Asked if the porn claims revealed a deeper cultural problem in parliament, Parish replied: “If