Shamed Neil Parish may have broken the law by watching porn in Parliament, Labour claimed today.
The Tory resigned as an MP yesterday, admitting he had twice watched adult material in the Commons that he stumbled across looking for tractors.
Mystery has surrounded exactly how Mr Parish ended up looking at explicit content after searching for farm vehicles.
One anonymous ally of the MP said he believed Mr Parish was searching for the CLAAS Dominator brand of tractor.
Described as an “icon among combine harvesters”, it featured in an episode of Top Gear with a snowplough and flamethrower attached.
However, this has not been confirmed personally by Mr Parish himself. Nor would it make it totally clear exactly how he leapt from his tractor search to pornography.
Mr Parish told the BBC : “Funnily enough it was tractors I was looking at, so I did get into another website with sort of a very similar name and I watched it for a bit, which I shouldn't have done.
"My crime, my most biggest crime, is that on another occasion I went in a second time, and that was deliberate.
"That was sitting waiting to vote on the side of the chamber."
Labour’s Jess Phillips last night said Mr Parish may have broken the law by viewing pornography in public.
The Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981 says: “If any indecent matter is publicly displayed, the person making the display and any person causing or permitting the display to be made shall be guilty of an offence.
“Any matter which is displayed in or so as to be visible from any public place shall be deemed to be publicly displayed.”
Shadow minister for safeguarding Ms Phillips told the Observer: "If this law was to be applied it appears he has committed an offence by his own admission."
Ms Phillips said Labour will call for a full review into how the law is applied and how many people have been prosecuted under it. She also called for a public information campaign to let people know watching porn in public places is illegal.
She told the Observer: “There are plenty of laws on the statute books that are meant to protect women and girls in society, however they are not enacted. They are very rarely enacted appropriately.
"People don't know they can complain about it. What we will do now is look into where charging has and hasn't happened [under this law], such as on transport networks where people watch it on the bus next you."
Mr Parish’s wife stood by him this weekend at the same time as signalling his career as an MP was over.
And Devon county councillor Colin Slade told the BBC locals knew what brand of tractor Mr Parish was looking for.
He said: “I know what he was actually looking for, the tractor he was looking for, and I can see how that could go to something totally different. A play on words.”
Mr Slade declined to comment further on this claim to the Mirror, but did say that while Mr Parish had done wrong and was right to resign, he was “personally saddened” by the MP’s resignation.
“I have known Neil for 12 years , I have worked with him… he’s always been very supportive of me and my family”, he said, including his daughter who became the area’s youngest councillor before dying aged 21.
“I have always known Neil as being an absolutely straight, honest guy, down to earth and very practical,” he said.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the MP "did the right thing" in resigning.
Asked on Sky News whether there is a culture of misogyny at Westminster, rejected the suggestion.
He said: "I think the problem we have is that people are working in a really intense environment, there are long hours, and I think generally most people know their limits, they know how to act respectfully.
"But there are some instances where people don't frankly act according to the highest standards.
"With Neil (Parish), I think he did the right thing. He did something which in most other professions you would be sacked for doing and he voluntarily resigned and I think his position was very difficult."
