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Cops confiscated Porngate MP's guns so he wouldn't kill himself as Tories 'let him drown'
26 June 2022, 11:52 | Updated: 26 June 2022, 14:09
Tory MP Neil Parish says police confiscated guns to prevent suicide
Former MP Neil Parish has told LBC that the police confiscated his guns to prevent him from shooting himself after he quit his job because he was caught watching porn in the House of Commons.
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Speaking to Tom Swarbrick on Swarbrick on Sunday, the disgraced former MP claimed he had been 'thrown over the side of the ship and left to drown' by the Tory party after the allegations came to light.
He said he found the media attention difficult to cope with, describing it as "not easy" and accusing the party of not "caring for us" in the way they had claimed.
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"When you've blown up your parliamentary career for 12 years, you are not feeling in the best place," he said.
"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."
Ex-Tiverton & Honiton MP Neil Parish says he was probably 'done in'
He revealed he had received death threats in the aftermath of the scandal.
"Have you had three days of the paparazzi outside of your house shouting abuse at you?" He said.
"It is enough to frighten anybody, and I don't frighten easily."
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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.
"And that's how it works and fine, but I saw Mark Spencer... saying how caring they all were.
"I need to put it out on record, they are not... this idea that they are all there, caring for us is nonsense."
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.
He said after the police took away the guns he said "in a moment of black humour, 'I am a very bad shot, I will probably miss'."
"They didn't naturally see the joke at the time, or nor was it very funny," he said.
Former Tiverton & Honiton MP Neil Parish speaks to LBC
Mr Parish also claimed he was probably "done in" by some of his colleagues and that he was "thrown to the press wolves".
"I think probably I was," he said, when asked by Tom.
"Now, I was wrong to be watching it: it was very immoral, it wasn't illegal, it was immoral, and I shouldn't have been doing it.
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"I was right in the corner of the House of Commons as you go into the lobby to vote, so this idea I think people have got that I was right in the middle of the House of Commons flaunting it is absolutely wrong.
"I wasn't proud of what I was doing and it was very wrong I was doing it.
"But I didn't spend any time in the last 12 years, shall I say, splitting on fellow members.
"I asked to be able to apologise if I caused offence, I was not given that opportunity by the chief whip and I was thrown to the press wolves."
