Neil Parish suspended from Tory party after being named as MP seen watching porn in Commons – UK politics live

Labour accuses Tories of trying to ‘cover up’ porn MP scandal by not naming Parish earlier

Labour has accused the Conservatives of trying to cover up the scandal of the MP accused of watching pornography in the Commons chamber. Responding to the news that Neil Parish has now been named as the MP – four days after a meeting where a female Tory MP told the chief whip about seeing a colleague watching porn on his phone in the chamber, without naming him – Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the Commons, said:

The Conservatives knew for days about the disgusting behaviour of one of their MPs and tried to cover it up. From the Owen Paterson scandal to their failure to act against their paedophile MP Imran Ahmad Khan, this is a government rotting from the head down. Britain deserves better.

Although Chris Heaton-Harris, the chief whip, condemned the MP’s behaviour earlier this week, after the original story became public, he said that the incident should be investigated through the independent complaints and grievance scheme, which was set up to investigate sexual misconduct allegations at Westminster, but which is secretive and time-consuming. Labour said that the Conservative party should deal with the matter quickly, through its own disciplinary processes.

The whips’ office only named Parish, and said that he was now being investigated by the Commons standards committee, in response to an approach by the Telegraph.

Updated at 11.16 EDT

From the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar

As Krishnan Guru-Murthy from Channel 4 News points out, Neil Parish cannot technically refer himself to the Commons standards committee. Complaints submitted through the standards process go to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone, first. She effectively triages them, deciding what merits investigation and what does not. If a complaint is valid, she investigates and produces a report, which then goes to the standards committee (MPs and lay members) who take the final decision about what punishment to recommend.

Parish is actually referring himself to the commissioner, ITV’s Anushka Asthana reports.

Updated at 11.30 EDT

Harriet Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, has said in an interview with Times Radio that Neil Parish should resign immediately. These are from Ed Brown from Times Radio.

Johnson should tell Neil Parish to resign immediately, say Lib Dems

Boris Johnson should tell Neil Parish to resign immediately, the Liberal Democrats say. Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said in a statement:

If Boris Johnson had any shred of decency left, he would tell Neil Parish to resign immediately.

In any other workplace this would count as gross misconduct and the person responsible would lose their job. parliament should be no different.

We don’t need to insult the women MPs who witnessed this with a lengthy investigation. All his bosses need to do is ask for his devices and look at his viewing history, this isn’t rocket science.

Labour accuses Tories of trying to ‘cover up’ porn MP scandal by not naming Parish earlier

Labour has accused the Conservatives of trying to cover up the scandal of the MP accused of watching pornography in the Commons chamber. Responding to the news that Neil Parish has now been named as the MP – four days after a meeting where a female Tory MP told the chief whip about seeing a colleague watching porn on his phone in the chamber, without naming him – Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the Commons, said:

The Conservatives knew for days about the disgusting behaviour of one of their MPs and tried to cover it up. From the Owen Paterson scandal to their failure to act against their paedophile MP Imran Ahmad Khan, this is a government rotting from the head down. Britain deserves better.

Although Chris Heaton-Harris, the chief whip, condemned the MP’s behaviour earlier this week, after the original story became public, he said that the incident should be investigated through the independent complaints and grievance scheme, which was set up to investigate sexual misconduct allegations at Westminster, but which is secretive and time-consuming. Labour said that the Conservative party should deal with the matter quickly, through its own disciplinary processes.

The whips’ office only named Parish, and said that he was now being investigated by the Commons standards committee, in response to an approach by the Telegraph.

Updated at 11.16 EDT

What Neil Parish said when asked earlier this week to react to news Tory MP has been seen watching porn in Commons

Neil Parish was interviewed by GB News earlier this week and asked for his reaction to the news that a Tory MP had been accused of watching pornography on his phone in the chamber.

When the presenter, Darren McCaffrey, asked Parish for his reaction to the story, and if he agreed the culprit would have to have the whip removed, Parish replied:

I think the whips’ office will do a thorough investigation and we will wait and see that result, and I think from that the decision will have to be made what action to be taken.

McCaffrey then asked if Parish thought there was a problem with the culture in parliament. Parish replied:

If you’ve got sort of 650 members of parliament in what is a very intense area, you are going to get people that step over the line … I don’t think there’s necessarily a huge culture [problem] here, but I think it does have to be dealt with, and dealt with seriously. I think that’s what the whips will do in our whips’ office.

Updated at 11.18 EDT

From Tim Durrant from the Insitute for Government

Neil Parish suspended from Tory party after being named as MP seen watching porn in Commons chamber

The Conservative MP Neil Parish has been identified as the backbencher accused of watching pornography in the Commons chamber, the Telegraph reports. He has had the whip withdrawn, and has reported himself to Commons standards committee.

A spokesperson for the chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, said:

Having spoken to the chief whip this afternoon, Neil Parish MP is reporting himself to the Standards Committee of the House of Commons.

Mr Parish has been suspended from the Conservative Whip pending the outcome of that investigation.

The Telegraph says Parish, who represents Tiverton and Honiton in Devon and who chairs the Commons environment committee, reported himself to the committee after a conversation with Heaton-Harris.

Originally the Tory whips said the allegation about the MP watching porn in the chamber should be dealt with through the independent complaints and grievance scheme, but this led to complaints that the party was seeking to bury the controversy. Keir Starmer said the Tories should deal with the issue themselves.

Neil Parish. Photograph: Commons TV

Updated at 10.54 EDT

Covid rates in Britain continuing to fall, says ONS

Coronavirus rates are continuing to fall in Britain, according to the latest results from the Office for National Statistics’ infection survey, which is seen as the most reliable guide to the prevalence of the virus in the community. But in Northern Ireland it is less clear what the trend is.

Here are the figures for the week ending last Saturday, nation by nation

England

One person in 25 infected – equivalent to 2,408,300 people.

The previous week it was one in 17.

Wales

One person in 18 infected – equivalent to 172,300.

The previous week it was one person in 15.

Scotland

One person in 25 infected – equivalent to 218,000 people.

The previous week it was one person in 19.

Northern Ireland

One person in 25 infected – equivalent to 74,700 people.

The previous week it was one person in 30.

(Although this looks like an increase, the ONS says the trend in Northern Ireland is uncertain.)

Updated at 10.11 EDT

UK sending war crimes experts to Ukraine to help investigate Russian atrocities, Truss says

A team of British war crimes experts is being sent to Ukraine to help investigate atrocities committed by Russian troops, Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has announced. She said:

Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women. British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold Putin’s regime to account for its actions. Justice will be done. Labour has biggest lead over Tories on best party for taxation for 10 years, poll suggests

Some workers will today be getting pay packets showing the impact of the national insurance hike that comes into force at the start of the month, and Labour has been highlighting this in its local election campaigning.

The party will be buoyed by polling from Ipsos Mori showing Labour has its highest lead over the Tories on taxation for 10 years. This is one of the findings from Ipsos’s latest monthly political monitor report, which is a trove of good data. Here are some of the key findings:

Polling on taxation. Photograph: Ipsos MORI/Ipsos Mori

Polling on managing the economy. Photograph: Ipsos MORI/Ipsos Mori

Polling on having what it takes to be good PM. Photograph: Ipsos MORI/Ipsos Mori

The Evening Standard has written up the polling here.

Updated at 09.33 EDT