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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
British lawmaker, Neil Parish, who was suspended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party, following accusations that he watched pornography on his phone in the House of Commons debating chamber, has said he opened the explicit content in error.
Parish was suspended by the Conservative Party on Friday, April 29, after reporting himself to parliament’s standards commissioner.
Parish said he will continue as a member of parliament while an investigation is carried out.
Asked by reporters whether he had opened something on his phone in error, Parish said: “I did, but let the inquiry look at that.”
A female member of parliament said she had seen a male colleague viewing pornographic material while sitting beside her in the House of Commons chamber and the same lawmaker watching pornography during a committee hearing.
In an interview with The Times newspaper published on Saturday, Parish’s wife said she was not aware of her husband having done anything similar before and that her husband was “a lovely person.”
“It was all very embarrassing. My breath was taken away, frankly,” the newspaper quoted Sue Parish as saying.
“People shouldn’t be looking at pornography. He would never just sit there with people looking … These ladies were quite right to be as cross as they were because I was cross, too,” she added.
The Prime Minister had on Thursda said that watching pornography would be unacceptable in any workplace.
The outcry comes at a time the Prime Minister and his party are under pressure over parties held at his Downing Street office and residence when the country was under strict COVID-19 lockdown rules.
