Lorraine viewers were left deeply disturbed over a strange interview with shamed 'tractor porn MP' Neil Parish, during which he recalled his wife chasing him round the kitchen with a pair of scissors and 'threatening' to cut off his penis.
The ex-MP quit the job earlier this year after looking at porn while in parliament during what he dubbed as a "'moment of madness". He initially claimed it was accidental and clicked on a link while looking at tractors on his phone.
Speaking to host Lorraine Kelly in an utterly odd interview this morning, Parish said his wife of 40 years has been supportive but said that she has a habit of chasing him around their home shouting "snipper snap".
Lorraine began by asking him simply: "What were you thinking?"
"I think there’s moments of madness in your life, and this was one of them," he replied. "And one has plenty of time to regret it afterwards, but I did the right thing, I apologised and I left parliament.
"I should have done it even quicker than I did. I think I went into a sort of denial, really and I think I went into shock - I thought perhaps if I pretend it didn't happen, it hasn’t happened.
“I also wanted to be able to apologise to the two women concerned because I never intended to flaunt it in front of anybody. I wasn’t proud of what I was doing, I knew it was wrong what I was doing and it was a weakness in my character, but I promise you - and my wife will back me up on that, who’ s a great support - I don’t flaunt, I really don’t.”
He added that it was a "weakness in [his] character" and that he "doesn't flaunt" porn.
Speaking about his wife, he said: "In the end, talking to my wife who’s been hugely supportive of me over the years, she knows I’m no angel, in fact she chases me round the kitchen going snipper snap knowing full well what part of my anatomy she’s after. She knows what I’m like."
Probed by Lorraine on why he had been on his phone instead of listening in parliament, he said: "It wasn’t during a debate, it was at 11:30 at night and we were voting.
"I wasn’t in a part of the chamber you can ask a question from, waiting to go into vote, so in between votes you have about ten minutes… One of the problems with parliament and the voting system is - it’s no justification, but I got bored. You look at your phone. I used to look at cars and tractors during votes."
Lorraine asked: “But how do you go from tractors to porn?”
“It was linked," he said. "The website was linked but naturally I’m not going to say how because I don’t want others to go on to the horrible site. I know people make fun of me that I’m the tractor porn man but I promise you, that was the case.”
Quizzed on whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs to take more responsibility for his own MPs, he said: "This thing with Christopher Pincher... I love boris to bits but why tell a fib when you know 24 hours later it's going to be refuted."
Parish added: "Once people have got over my terrible behaviour, I think they'll miss me."
Asked if he had any mornings where he woke up and deeply regretted what he had done, he said that he "has them every morning" and that he has "lost quite a lot of weight".
"When you make a huge mistake you've got to live with it," he said. "My wife says you've got to accept now you are the tractor porn MP."
At the end of the interview, he thanked Lorraine for talking to him as it had been "therapeutic".
A bemused Lorraine admitted: "I've never been called therapeutic"
Later, Lorraine spoke to Helen Skelton, who brought up the unusual chat, and the host admitted that it had been "very bizarre and strange.
"Fair play to him coming on," she said. "He was a twit... yikes!"
And viewers were cringing just as much and took to Twitter to comment, with one writing: "'My wife says you've got to accept you are now the tractor porn MP' - outstanding interview #Lorraine."
While another commented: "Tractor porn guy must have the same advisors as Prince Andrew ! Who advised him to do that interview with #lorraine hilarious, slightly disturbing. That's the type of person making decisions for the country. Jeez ' snip, snip, snipper snack'."
A third wrote: "Did Neil Parish really just tell #Lorraine that his wife chases him around the kitchen with a pair of scissors saying “snip or snap”? Snip it. Then snap the wee thing."
"Neil Parish aka Tractorporn, on #Lorraine, jovially talking about his wife chasing him round the kitchen with scissors, shouting "snip,snip". Nooooo This is not normal behaviour!" another commented.
*Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV
