The MP forced to quit after watching pornography in the House of Commons may have been searching for a Claas Dominator tractor at the time, his allies have suggested.
Tiverton and Honiton MP Neil Parish claimed on Saturday that he happened upon a porn website while looking for tractors on his phone.
He had said: “The situation was that I, funnily enough, it was tractors I was looking at it and so I did get into another website that has a very similar name and I watched it for a bit which I shouldn’t have done.”
Mr Parish added that his “biggest crime” was he “went in a second time” to view the website on his mobile phone while waiting to vote.
On Sunday, friends of Mr Parish suggested to the Mirror and Telegraph he had been looking up Claas Dominator combine harvesters at the time.
One such tractor was spotted in the barn of Mr Parish’s family farm in North Somerset at the weekend.
Devon councillor Colin Slade told The Telegraph he “could see” how the search might have led to inappropriate content.
The suggestion has not yet been confirmed by Mr Parish.
Mr Slade added: “I have never had any concerns about his behaviour and I regard Neil as totally truthful. I saw his BBC interview, which was very heartfelt, in which he said he was wrong and he was sorry. I had a conversation with him in which he said very similar things.”
In the wake of the scandal, which is only the latest in a series of bullying and sexual misconduct offences and allegations involving MPs, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has called for “radical” reform to working practices in Parliament.
But Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng rejected claims there is a widespread culture of misogyny in Parliament as he suggested issues are down to “some bad apples”.
Mr Kwarteng told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I don’t think there’s a culture of misogyny. I think the problem we have is that people are working in a really intense environment, there are long hours, and I think generally most people know their limits, they know how to act respectfully.”
The Cabinet minister told the BBC’s Sunday Morning show: “I think we’ve got to distinguish between some bad apples, people who behave badly, and the general environment.
“There are some bad apples, there are people who have acted very badly, and they should be held to account.”
Last week, The Sunday Times revealed three cabinet ministers and two shadow cabinet ministers were among 56 MPs subject to sexual misconduct allegations.
The allegations, which include claims that are yet to be corroborated, relate to incidents of inappropriate touching and sexual harassment.
zerbey on May 2nd, 2022 at 01:54 UTC »
The fact he was looking for a tractor isn't in dispute, nor is that he may have accidentally ended up on a porn site. The thing that got him in trouble was he did it a second time.
jackoman03 on May 2nd, 2022 at 00:42 UTC »
omg bro just own up to it, nobody is buying this shit
Own-Ambassador-3537 on May 1st, 2022 at 18:40 UTC »
Odd title for a porn flick!