The Conservative party has confirmed that it is has investigated allegations of a male Tory MP having been seen watching porn on his mobile phone while sitting next to a female minister in the House of Commons, and will refer the matter to Parliament's Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme.
The incident was raised by the female minister during a meeting of Conservative MPs on Tuesday, the BBC reports, and has been supported by the account of another MP who witnessed it.
A party spokesperson for chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris said that he “was looking into the matter”, adding that the act was “totally unacceptable”.
Following an initial review into the affair, Heaton-Harris has now referred the matter on to Parliament's complaints body, and "appropriate action" will be taken once their investigation has concluded.
During Wednesday’s Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Green MP, Caroline Lucas, pressed the PM on the fact that 56 MPs including three cabinet ministers were currently being investigated by Parliament for sexual misconduct and asked whether being found culpable would amount to grounds for dismissal.
Johnson said in response that sexual harassment was “intolerable” and would constitute grounds for dismissal.
The conduct of Conservative MPs has already been in the media spotlight this week, after a Mail on Sunday article anonymously quoted some Tories who claimed that Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner would cross and uncross her legs in the Commons chamber as a means of distracting prime minister, Boris Johnson.
The article quoted the MPs as saying that Rayner would put Johnson “off his stride” during Prime Minister’s Questions by using the tactic, which they compared to “Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct”.
The article has received widespread condemnation from MPs on both sides of the House, while Rayner herself called the piece “misogynistic” and a "perverted smear".
Johnson, who called the contents of the article “appalling” and “sexist tripe”, has vowed that if the identity of the anonymous MPs should come to light, then they will face disciplinary measures.
The Mail on Sunday’s editor, David Dillon, subsequently turned down an invitation from Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to attend Parliament and discuss the article.
Image taken from Wikimedia Commons
