UK lawmaker resigns after viewing porn in Parliament

An unofficial handout photograph released by the UK Parliament shows the Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, Neil Parish, posing for an official portrait photograph at the Houses of Parliament in London. RICHARD TOWNSHEND UK PARLIAMENT AFP LONDON - A British lawmaker who had been suspended from the Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party said on Saturday he had resigned after admitting he viewed pornography on his phone in the House of Commons in a moment of madness. Neil Parish was suspended by the Conservatives on Friday after he reported to Parliament's standards commissioner.

Parish resigned on Saturday, having previously said he would continue as a member of parliament while an investigation was carried out.

A tearful Parish told the BBC in an interview on Saturday that the furore and damage I was causing my family and constituency association just wasn't worth it.

Parish, a farmer, said that the first time he had seen the explicit material he had stumbled across by accident when looking for tractors on a website with a similar name, and then watched it for a bit, which I shouldn't have done. My crime, most biggest crime is that I went in a second time and that was deliberate. That was sitting on the side of the chamber waiting for a vote. Asked what had been going through his mind, he described it as a moment of madness ALSO READ: UK PM to be probed over 'Partygate'

A female minister said earlier this week she had seen a male colleague viewing pornographic material while sitting next to her in the Commons chamber and the same lawmaker watching pornography during a committee hearing.

Parish said he was not proud of what he was doing, but he had not intended for those around him to see it.

I am not going to defend what I did. I think I must have taken complete leave of my senses because of what I did. Parish's wife said in an interview with The Times newspaper before his resignation that she was not aware that her husband had done anything similar before and that her husband was a lovely person. READ MORE: UK plan to control online porn is watched as a test case.

Sue Parish was quoted in the newspaper as saying it was all very embarrassing. My breath was taken away, frankly.