BoJo Urged to Take Direct Disciplinary Action Against Tory MP Accused of Watching Porn in Commons

On Thursday, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding Rachel Maclean said that a Conservative MP who allegedly watched pornography on his phone in the Commons should be kicked “out of parliament, out of the party”.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure from senior Conservative MPs to take immediate disciplinary action against the Tory lawmaker, who has been accused of watching pornography in the House of Commons.

The name of the MP was not disclosed amid reports that his identity is known to party whips. The Guardian cited unnamed sources as denying suggestions that the MP was himself a whip.

Labour leader Keir Starmer urged Johnson on Thursday to bypass the potentially lengthy process of referring the matter to parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), which deals with sexual harassment and other disciplinary matters.

“This is an unusual case because the Tory party knows who this individual is. I think that they should deal with it, and deal with it sooner rather than later […]. They know who this is. They should take action now,” Starmer emphasised.

The remarks were preceded by Tory chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris ordering an investigation into the allegations of the Conservative lawmaker watching porn in the Commons.

The whips office said that Heaton-Harris “has asked that this matter be referred to” the ICGS and that “upon the conclusion of any ICGS investigation, the chief whip will take appropriate action”.

BoJo Calls for Independent Probe Into Embattled MP

Prime Minister Johnson, for his part, told reporters that the case should be investigated independently.

It was “obviously unacceptable for anybody to be doing that kind of thing in the workplace” but “what needs to happen now is that the proper procedures need to be gone through, the independent complaints and grievances procedure needs to be activated and we need to get to understand the facts”, BoJo underlined.

He spoke after Attorney General Suella Braverman said in an interview with the Sky News that she does “not want to prejudge any decision that should be made by an independent body” but that “the most serious sanction could potentially apply in this case”.

Separately speaking to the BBC, she said that some MPs behaved like “animals”, adding that a “coarsening” of behaviour in parliament and elsewhere is needed.

“I think that’s actually a more worrying symptom of our society and our culture. How have we got to a place in our society where watching pornography on the tube, in public, in front of children, in parliament, in the workplace has become somehow normalised for some people?” Braverman stressed.

She was echoed by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding Rachel Maclean, who told the Sky News that she wanted to see the MP in question removed from Westminster and that “there's no place for this” in the Conservative party.

Tory MP Allegedly Caught Watching Porn

The allegations were reportedly made during a meeting of female Tory MPs earlier this week that focused on the issue of sexism in the parliament.

One of the politicians revealed at the time that the man in question sat next to her while watching porn, with another MP corroborating it.

After the news was broken to Heaton-Harris, he looked "horrified" and quickly asked for the man's identity, according to Sky News.