'Double standards!': Neil Parish slams govt for not withdrawing whip from Chris Pincher

1 July 2022, 15:31 | Updated: 1 July 2022, 17:12

Neil Parish accuses government of double standards

Disgraced former MP Neil Parish has told LBC the whip must be withdrawn from Christopher Pincher and accused the government of "double standards".

Mr Pincher resigned as Tory deputy chief whip on Thursday after allegations of groping were made against him, but he remains a Tory MP.

Neil Parish, who was expelled from the party after he was caught watching porn in the House of Commons, has hit out at the government for "double standards" and said the whip must be withdrawn as it was for him.

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"Definitely," he said when asked if Mr Pincher should have the whip withdrawn.

"I can't believe why that haven't done it because that was the first thing they did to me even though I asked for it to be sorted out privately.

"And I just feel that it's double standards."

He added that he thought the government would bow to pressure and withdraw the whip "by this evening or tomorrow".

"I can't believe they can treat us in such different ways," he said.

Mr Parish said it was possible Mr Pincher himself had been the one to remove the whip.

"He may be deputy chief whip, in fact he may have been the man who actually removed the whip from me, so come on, let's be fair," he said.

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Mr Pincher quit his post as deputy chief whip on Thursday evening, but remains a Conservative MP.

In his resignation letter he admitted he had "embarrassed myself and other people" by drinking "far too much" at a Tory party private members club on Wednesday night.

He was accused of 'groping' two men at the event.

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Neil Parish was caught watching porn in the House of Commons in May.

He resigned form his Tiverton and Honiton constituency as a result.

On Saturday he told LBC the Tory party had not 'cared for him' in the way they had claimed, and said the police confiscated his guns to stop him from shooting himself.

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"When you've blown up your parliamentary career for 12 years, you are not feeling in the best place," he told LBC's Swarbrick on Sunday.

"The police very kindly, rightly, took away - because I'm a farmer, you see, I've got shotguns - so they took those away from me."

He went on: "They took them away for my own safety - not that I was going to shoot anybody else, in case I shot myself.

He said he received no support from the Tory chief whip.

"When you go to the chief whip and ask for help, you expect it," he said.

"You are thrown over the side of a ship, and then you are left to drown.

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A source close to the whips office said the claims were "incorrect".

"Neil, like any Conservative MP, was provided support throughout by the Whips Office and welfare support after he resigned as an MP including regular contact with his former Whip and various Members of Parliament," the said.