Neil Parish’s wife has revealed that she first learnt that her husband was the MP accused of watching porn in the Commons from a journalist.
The Tory MP’s name was confirmed publicly by the Conservative whips’ office around 3pm on Friday, but it was not until he returned home later that day that Mr Parish confessed to his wife – by which time she had already been told the details in a phone call from a reporter.
Speaking alongside his wife in their Somerset farmhouse home last night, the 65-year-old Tiverton and Honiton MP told the Daily Telegraph that having the accusation in the open was “almost as if a weight is lifted off me”.
Mr Parish has previously admitted he did not come clean with his wife about the allegations levelled at him on Tuesday evening by two Tory women MPs until Friday afternoon, saying a flat mobile phone battery stopped him speaking to her when his name first became public that day.
Reports suggest that he broke down in tears when the pair finally met, telling her: “I’m sorry you married such an idiot.”
Mrs Parish, 66, made clear that she was standing by her husband of 41 years, saying that the matter had been settled between them to her satisfaction.
She said she first discovered that the MP at the centre of the porn scandal was her husband when a reporter called to ask for comment.
“I didn’t know anything about it until he rang and said, ‘Oh, you know what I’m ringing about…’” she said.
“I didn’t know who was more embarrassed, actually, me or him, poor chap.”
Mr Parish hailed his wife as “amazingly loyal and better than I deserve”, to which she responded with a chuckle: “That’s for sure.”
In his first public comment on the case, on Friday afternoon, the MP of 12 years’ standing, who chairs the Commons environment committee, made a point of thanking his wife publicly for her support.
“Of course it’s embarrassing, and it’s embarrassing for my wife and family,” he said. “I have a very supportive wife and I thank her for that.”
Mrs Parish said her husband was “quite a normal guy, really, a lovely person”, adding: “It’s just so stupid.”
She said that the female MPs who complained about Mr Parish were “quite right” to be upset”, adding: “He would never just sit there with people looking. He would never just do that knowing [people were looking]”.
But she added: “If you were mad with every man who looked at pornography, you would not have many wives in the world.”
Mrs Parish said she did not understand the attraction of pornography. “I’m a woman,” she said. “Hence why the women were so cross. It’s degrading. It’s demeaning.”
Despite calls for his immediate resignation Mr Parish told the Telegraph that he aimed to remain an MP and chair of the environment committee until an inquiry by Commons standards commissioner Sue Gray concludes – a process which could take months.
“Strangely, now it’s out in the open, it’s almost as if a weight is lifted off me, really,” he said.
“So we will let it take this process now. Whatever people may say, I’ve been a pretty hard-working MP and I shall carry on doing so until such time as I make a decision either to remain or to go.”
