Neil Parish, a British politician, has resigned from parliament after confessing to watching porn in the House of Commons.
Parish, a Tory MP, was named as the mystery politician spotted watching pornographic video twice by two female colleagues during a meeting on Saturday, April 30.
Parish had earlier stated that he would not quit after being suspended from the parliamentary Conservative Party over the allegations, but he has since admitted to seeing porn by accident and stated that he is “not proud” of his actions.
He said the first time he viewed pornography was accidental as he wanted to look at tractors, but the second time was deliberate.
In an interview with BBC South West, he said: ‘The situation was that – funnily enough it was tractors I was looking at.
‘I did get into another website that had a very similar name and I watched it for a bit which I shouldn’t have done. But my crime – biggest crime – is that on another occasion I went in a second time.’
Asked if that was deliberate he said: ‘That was deliberate… that was sitting waiting to vote on the side of the chamber.’
He added: ‘What I did was absolutely wrong.’
‘I was wrong, I was stupid, I lost sense of mind,’ he said.
However, he denied watching the material in a way where he hoped other people would see it.
‘I make a full apology. A total full apology. It was not my intention to intimidate.’ he said.
‘I mean I have 12 years in Parliament and probably got one of the best reputations ever – or did have.’
When pressed on why he chose to view the material in the Commons, he said: ‘I don’t know, I think I must’ve taken complete leave of my senses and my sensibilities and my sense of decency, everything.’
He said he was ‘not defending what I did for one moment,’ arguing he thought the best thing he could do was to ‘tell the truth’.