'Porn MP' does not rule out running in Devon by-election caused by his own resignation

The former Conservative MP Neil Parish has not ruled out running against his former party in a by-election triggered by his resignation for watching porn in the House of Commons.

Mr Parish, who represented Tiverton and Honiton in parliament for more than a decade, admitted watching porn twice in the chamber in what he described as a "moment of madness".

Mr Parish, who is a farmer by trade, says he accidentally viewed an x-rated video when browsing for tractors, before later doing so deliberately in the Commons chamber.

In an interview with the Telegraph as he left Westminster, the 65-year-old said he could rely on his support in the farming community by running as an independent in the up-coming vote in Tiverton and Honiton.

Mr Parish said: "It is an option for me and one I could consider, the only thing that may well stop me is the fact that my local party, my local activists, my local councillors, all which are friends, I don't know if I want to do that to them.

"Some of the hierarchy of my own party I suppose I wouldn't have the same problem in doing it. At the moment I'm taking soundings. I can raise the money, yeah. I don't think I would have any problem in doing all that. I've got some quite powerful backers in the farming community. I don't think I'm going there - but it is an option."

Mr Parish acknowledged he had swelled the Conservatives' majority in the Devonshire seat since he was elected in 2010, but said his immediate concerns lay in "letting the shock of what I've done" pass.