“I was looking for tractors,” said the 65-year-old former BBC farmer. “But I came across another page with the same name and stared at it for a while. I shouldn’t,” Parish tried to explain.
“But the mistake, my big mistake, I went back a second time, it was done on purpose,” he said on the verge of tears, “no control” for a moment.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Saturday, Parish put forward the idea that the site had already been “mistaken”.
“We support the decision of the Member of Parliament (Neil Parish) to step down,” said a Conservative spokesman for Dwight and Hannidon County, where Parish was elected MP in 2019.
The announcement comes after the Daily Mirror pointed out that a member of Boris Johnson’s government had referred to the incident Tuesday night during a meeting of Conservative lawmakers.
On Wednesday, an inquiry into the matter was launched within Johnson’s party, but the name of the spouse involved was not released.
“This approach is completely unacceptable,” said one of the Conservative disciplinary officers, who demanded that “action be taken”.
Finally, he turned himself in to the parliamentary commission investigating the conduct of the parish delegates, which the Conservative Party announced this Friday, suspending him from the parliamentary committee while the proceedings continued.