Conservative MP Neil Parish formally resigns after watching porn in the Commons

Devon MP Neil Parish has formally resigned after watching porn in the House of Commons.

The Tiverton and Honiton MP admitted watching porn twice in the chamber in what he described as a "moment of madness".

The Treasury has today (4 May) accepted Mr Parish’s resignation.

A statement from the Treasury said: “The Chancellor of the Exchequer has this day appointed Neil Quentin Gordon Parish to be Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.”

Appointing Mr Parish to the position is a mechanism allowing him to resign.

The 65-year-old had initially vowed to continue as MP for Tiverton and Honiton but announced his decision to step down on Saturday after seeing the “furore and the damage I was causing my family and my constituency”.

The farmer said the first time he accessed porn in the chamber was accidental and happened as he was looking at tractors on the internet.

He said he then "got into another website with a very similar name", adding: “I watched it for a bit, which I shouldn’t have done.”

He went on to say his "most biggest crime" was watching porn deliberately a second time.

He said he accepted it was “totally wrong” and insisted he was “not making sure people could see it” and was trying to be discreet.

“I was wrong what I was doing, but this idea that I was there watching it, intimidating women, I mean I have 12 years in Parliament and probably got one of the best reputations ever – or did have," Mr Parish added.

When pressed on why he chose to view the material in the Commons, he said: “I don’t know, I think I must’ve taken complete leave of my senses and my sensibilities and my sense of decency, everything.”