The tractor porn MP could be set for a come back to plow new fields

Remember the tractor porn bloke?

Of course you do. Who could forget one of the major political stories of 2022 - when Tory MP Neil Parish resigned after admitting he had watched pornography in the house of commons not once, but twice.

The former environment, food and rural affairs select committee chair said he accidentally viewed an explicit video when browsing for tractors in April, before later doing so deliberately in the chamber.

He told BBC’s Politics South West at the time: “Funnily enough, it was tractors I was looking at, and I did get into another website that had a sort of very similar name, and I watched it for a bit, which I shouldn’t have done.

“My crime – my biggest crime – is that on another occasion, I went in a second time. That was deliberate.”

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Parish revealed the incident happened as he was “sitting waiting to vote on the side of the chamber”, describing the situation as “a moment of madness and also totally wrong”.

So that's the end of his political career, right? Nobody will seriously be able to come to him with constituent concerns now... right?

In a healthy society in which politicians are revered you might think so but unfortunately we live in a country in which a prime minister resigned by saying "hasta la vista" and the current prime minister once spoke about his "coke addiction".

So given we live in a series of the Thick Of It, it stands to reason that Parish has said he might return to politics.

Parish, asked by Times Radio whether he would consider standing for election again, said: “Yes, at the moment I just don’t want to quite leave it. When you leave so suddenly like I had to, there is so much unfinished business. Therefore, at the moment, I don’t really want to leave it there.”

He added that the new seat “comes very close to my farm” and he would “very much consider standing there at the next general election”.

Asked whether he would look to stand as a Tory, Parish said: “I shall offer my services to the party – whether the party will have me or not is another matter.

“But then I have the option of also standing as an independent. There’s a certain draw for me actually to have a shot as an independent. The next general election might be one where people might be looking for something slightly different than all the political parties.”

Parish also admitted to feeling “great regret” at the circumstances of his resignation from parliament.

Calling it a “terrible mistake”, he added: “The shame of it is that you go out basically being seen as a sleazeball. And you can understand why people would think that. So yes, there is shame.

“But once you’ve made a mistake, once you’ve admitted a mistake and once you’ve resigned over it, I think then you do dwell on it for a while, but then, after that, you move on.”

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