Neil Parish on Wednesday formally quit as a Tory MP after admitting watching porn in the House of Commons in a ‘moment of madness’.
The Treasury announced the 65-year-old has been appointed ‘Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead’ – the conventional way for someone to resign from Parliament.
Mr Parish, a farmer by trade, said he intended to resign as Tiverton and Honiton MP over the weekend after revealing he first accidentally viewed the X-rated video after looking at tractors online.
A statement from the Treasury this afternoon said: ‘The Chancellor of the Exchequer has this day appointed Neil Quentin Gordon Parish to be Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.’
The archaic title is necessary because technically MPs cannot resign – they only cease to be members of the House if they die, are expelled, or become disqualified.
Disqualification is achieved by taking one of two offices of profit under the Crown – Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, or Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.
The unpaid roles have no responsibilities and the Manor of Northstead, a former medieval estate in North Yorkshire, has been redeveloped and forms part of Scarborough. 
Neil Parish confirmed that he was resigning in an interview with BBC South West over the weekend, blaming his actions on a ‘moment of madness’
Mr Parish struggled to hold back tears at the weekend as he told how in a ‘moment of madness’ he first stumbled on the adult content, then deliberately watched it a second time while he was sitting waiting to vote at the side of the Commons chamber.
The married father-of-two had previously vowed to continue as the MP for Tiverton and Honiton, but finally bowed to pressure to resign.
He said in an interview with BBC South West that he recognised the ‘furore’ and ‘damage’ he was causing his family and his constituency in Devon before deciding ‘it just wasn’t worth carrying on’.
‘The situation was, 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,’ Mr Parish said.
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‘My crime, my most biggest crime, is that on another occasion I went in a second time, and that was deliberate.
‘I was wrong what I was doing, but this idea that I was there watching it, intimidating women, I mean I have 12 years in Parliament and probably got one of the best reputations ever – or did have.’
When pressed on why he chose to view the material in the Commons, he said: ‘I don’t know, I think I must’ve taken complete leave of my senses and my sensibilities and my sense of decency, everything.’
‘I thought that I could explain to the standards committee what happened and it would be worth explaining what happened which I will in a minute.’
He added: ‘What I do want to put on record is that for all my rights and wrongs, I was not proud of what I was doing. The one thing I wasn’t doing and which I will take to my grave as being true is I was not actually making sure people could see it.
‘In fact, I was trying to do quite the opposite. I was wrong what I was doing, but this idea that I was there watching it and intimidating women.’
He continued: ‘Total madness. I’m not going to defend it. I’m also not going to defend what I did. What I did was absolutely, totally wrong. In the end, what do you do?’
He told the BBC that he and his wife discussed fighting it in some way this morning.
‘I was wrong. I searched my conscience and that’s why I’m here this afternoon. I’m not trying to be virtuous about it in any shape or form. I was wrong. I was stupid. I lost a sense of mind.
‘What is done is done. What I am saying is one can use process to delay and hold things up. I decided not to.’
Mr Parish was suspended by the Conservatives on Friday pending an investigation after confirming that he was the MP accused of watching the material.
His resignation will trigger a by-election in the South West seat of Tiverton and Honiton in Devon which has a Conservative majority of over 14,000.
