having trouble accessing the scripts parent gameobject in update()

the testing script i have creates new empty gameobjects when i hit the middle mouse button.

i want to set the parent of these new gameobjects to be the very same gameobject that the script itself is attached to. i would have thought that something like "newObject.transform.parent = gameobject " would work but its not.. am i just missing something here?

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class clicktesting : MonoBehaviour
 {
     public GameObject ClickParent;
 
 
 
     void Start()
     {
         ClickParent = gameObject;
 
 
     }
 
     void Update()
     {
         if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
             LClick();
 
         if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(1))
             RClick();
 
         if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(2))
             MClick();
     }
 
 
 
     private static void MClick()
     {
         Debug.Log("middle click.");
         
 
         var newObject = new GameObject();
         newObject.name = "look i'm a new object";
         // here is where the trouble is
         //i want to change the parent of the newly created game object to be the game object this script is attached to
         //but "this" or "gameobject" arent happy here and i cant access ClickParent either
         newObject.transform.parent = gameObject;
 
     }
      
 
 
     private static void LClick()
     {
         Debug.Log("left click.");
     }
 
 
 
     private static void RClick()
     {
         Debug.Log("right click.");
     }
 }