Tory MP Neil Parish has quit after admitting to watching porn in the House of Commons in a ‘moment of madness’.

The member of parliament for Tiverton & Honiton was identified yesterday as the mystery politician allegedly seen watching adult content twice by two female colleagues during a meeting.

He had initially vowed to continue his duties in his constituency after he was suspended from the parliamentary Conservative Party over the claims.

The 65-year-old suggested he had opened the material by mistake but said he would quit if found guilty by parliament’s investigation into the matter.

Now, he has confirmed that he is going to resign and he is ‘not proud’ of what he has done.

He said the first time he viewed the x-rated content was accidental after looking 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.’

Mr Parish appeared emotional as he said he was standing down after seeing the damage the scandal was causing his family, his constituency and local association.

It is understood he agreed to resign after allies told him his position had become untenable.

‘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.

In an interview with The Times yesterday, Mr Parish’s wife Sue said the allegation was ‘very embarrassing’ but vowed to stand by him.

She said her husband of 40 years was ‘quite a normal guy’ and ‘a lovely person’.

‘If you were mad with every man who looked at pornography, you would not have many wives in the world,’ she said.

However, she called pornography ‘demeaning and degrading’ to women and said she understood why the female colleagues who made the allegation were upset.

Mr Parish faced calls to resign immediately after being identified yesterday.

He was named after referring himself to the parliamentary standards watchdog over the claims.

It ended days of fervent speculation after the complaint was made by the two female MPs on Tuesday.

His resignation will trigger a by-election in what is a safe Tory seat.

But it is likely to also raise questions about the ‘sexist’ culture in Westminster.

Labour has criticised the wider culture in Parliament, accusing the government of having known about the incident for days but failing to take action.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

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