Neil Parish says wife ‘chases me around the kitchen with scissors’ going for ‘part of my anatomy’

‘She knows what I’m like,’ former Devon MP says

Matt Mathers
Monday 04 July 2022 19:21 BST
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Neil Parish says wife chased after him around the kitchen with scissors after watching porn in commons

The former Tory MP who resigned for watching porn in the House of Commons said his wife chases him around the kitchen with scissors aiming for “part of my anatomy.”

Neil Parish was forced to quit in May after it emerged that he twice watched adult content in parliament in view of female colleagues.

The 66-year-old claimed the first time he had accidentally clicked on porn was while looking at tractors, earning him the moniker “tractor porn MP”.

The second time was a “moment of madness,” he said.

He is now enjoying life away from Westminster and spoke to ITV's Lorraine Kelly show on Monday about how the scandal affected him and his wife.

"She knows I'm no angel," he said. "In fact she chases me around the kitchen with the scissors going, ‘snipper-snap’ knowing full well which part of my anatomy she’s after.”

A shocked looking Ms Kelly replied by saying, "OK," before Mr Parish added: “She knows what I’m like.”

Ms Kelly then suggested that he must have had some "very awkward conversations" with his wife after the reports first came to light.

"You’ve said she knows what you’re like, she accepts that I guess, but that conversation must have been very difficult,” she said.

Mr Parish said that his wife has supported him throughout his career in Westminster and “she’s done so much with me.”

“So naturally, on the morning I decided to resign, it was her advice I took, it was my children, my son and daughter, both very sound advice," he said.

"In the end, do you twist and turn, do you tell lots of fibs, or do you go cleanly? And I decided to go cleanly,” he explained.

Mr Parish's comments came as Boris Johnson dealt with the fallout from another MP, Chris Pincher, facing multiple misconduct claims against him.

The former deputy chief whip resigned on Thursday after being accused of drunkenly groping two men at private members' club for Tories in central London.

Since then a string of other allegations have been made against the Tamworth MP, all of which he denies.

The prime minister was criticised for promoting Mr Pincher to deputy chief whip given that he resigned from the whips' office over a similar claim in 2017, also denied by Mr Pincher.

Downing Street said initially that Mr Johnson was not aware of any specific claims against the MP.

No 10 later on Monday admitted that he "was aware" of some allegations against Mr Pincher.

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