UK politicians' porn habits at Houses of Parliament revealed

A Parliamentary spokesman said of the figures: "All pornographic websites are blocked by Parliament's computer network." Photo / Getty Images

More than 24,000 attempts have been made to access pornographic websites in the UK's Houses of Parliament since the general election last June, according to official data.

The figure of 24,473 attempts represents around 160 requests per day on average from computers and other devices connected to the parliamentary network - which is used by MPs, peers and staff - between June and October last year.

The revelations came amid a sex scandal in Westminster, which saw Theresa May sack her de facto deputy Damian Green after he made "misleading" statements about allegations that police found pornography on computers in his parliamentary office in 2008.

A Parliamentary spokesman said of the figures: "All pornographic websites are blocked by Parliament's computer network.

"The vast majority of 'attempts' to access them are not deliberate. The data shows 'requests' to access websites, not visits to them," he said.

"There are 8500 computers on the parliamentary network, which are used by MPs, peers, their staff and staff of both Houses.

"This data also covers personal devices used when logged on to Parliament's guest Wi-Fi."

A separate (FOI) request showed there were also at least 2,751,755 attempts to access blocked websites on the parliamentary network from January to October this year.