Should someone else – or an outside body – employ the staff, as long as the MP has the right to choose them? Writing in the Observer, Sir Lindsay said: “I believe it is time we reviewed our working practices, and particularly whether it is right that individual MPs are the employers of their staff. He was considering moving to an outside body employing aides as Parliament’s reputation was feared to have hit a new low. Calling for urgent action, Sir Lindsay suggested staff should no longer be employed by the parliamentarians they work for to address a series of “serious allegations”. The 65-year-old select committee chair, who is a farmer by trade, said he first accidentally viewed porn after looking at tractors online before later acting deliberately.Ĭommons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is calling for “radical” reform to working practices after a series of bullying and sexual misconduct offences involving MPs. Neil Parish bowed to pressure to say he would resign as MP for Tiverton and Honiton after viewing the material in the chamber during a “moment of madness”.
Parliament is facing a reckoning to improve its reputation after a senior Tory admitting he twice watched pornography in the Commons capped a series of scandals.
