A Conservative MP who allegedly watched pornography on his phone in the Commons should be kicked “out of parliament, out of the party”, a Home Office minister has said.
Speaking on The Take with Sophy Ridge on Sky News, Rachel Maclean, the safeguarding minister, said she wanted to see the MP in question removed from Westminster.
“There’s no place for this in our party,” she said.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Tory chief whip, has ordered an investigation into the allegations.
The whips office said on Wednesday that he “has asked that this matter be referred to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme”, Westminster’s independent complaints service.
“Upon the conclusion of any ICGS investigation, the chief whip will take appropriate action,” the spokesman added.
MPs ‘shocked and horrified’
It is believed the pornography accusation was made during a meeting on Tuesday of the 2022, the female grouping of the 1922 committee of Tory backbench MPs.
Two people in attendance told Mr Heaton-Harris they had witnessed an MP watching porn both in the Commons chamber and in a committee, Sky News understands.
One MP there said that Mr Heaton-Harris looked “horrified” and asked for the man’s identity.
The women have since spoken to him and named the man, according to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby.
Around 50 to 60 female Tory MPs are said to have been present at the meeting.
Ms Maclean, who was in attendance, told Sky News: “None of us could believe our ears… we were just all shocked and horrified.”
Asked if Sir Keir Starmer had any views on the matter, a Labour spokesman said: “Yeah, it’s a sackable offence.”
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Wallace: ‘Problem’ with Commons culture
Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, Ben Wallace said “there’s no place for pornography in any workplace” and that there needs to be a culture change in Westminster.
“This is a problem, I think, about the overall culture of the House of Commons,” the defence secretary said.
“It is late sitting, long nights with bars, and that very often leads, and it has done for decades, to behavioural challenges.
“I think it’s really important that we think about ways to change the culture in the House of Commons”.
Sexual misconduct ‘grounds for dismissal’
The meeting was called in response to reports that dozens of MPs, including three Cabinet ministers, are facing allegations of sexual misconduct referred to the ICGS.
The scheme was set up in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement and is parliament’s mechanism for handling complaints of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct.
In all 56 MPs face allegations ranging from making sexually inappropriate comments to more serious wrongdoing, according to The Sunday Times.
Boris Johnson agreed that sexual misconduct would be “grounds for dismissal” for ministers when asked about the newspaper’s report at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Oliver Dowden, the Tory chairman, was asked if Westminster was a safe place to be a woman on Sky News’ Ridge on Sunday last weekend.
“I think actually we’ve made big improvements over the past 20 or 30 years,” he said.
“Some of the things that happened, I’m sure, when you were a young reporter and when I started out in Westminster certainly wouldn’t happen now, and I think that’s something that has improved very much for the better.”
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Rayner hits back at ‘misogynistic’ article
Meanwhile, Angela Rayner condemned a “sexist” and “misogynistic” Mail on Sunday article that claimed Tory MPs had accused her of a Basic Instinct ploy to distract the prime minister.
Labour’s deputy leader was accused of deliberately distracting Mr Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs, and the story has received a huge backlash.
Mr Johnson tweeted in response that he respected Ms Rayner and deplored the “misogyny directed at her anonymously“.
David Dillon, the newspaper’s editor, refused to meet the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to discuss the article, saying journalists should “not take instruction from officials of the House of Commons, however august they may be”.
