Sir Christopher Chope row: Notorious bill-blocking Tory MP sparks backlash by objecting to women's conference

MP Christopher Chope has come under fire again for voting against a motion for a women’s conference to be held in Parliament
PA
Alexandra Richards17 July 2018

A Tory MP who caused controversy when he blocked a bill aimed at outlawing upskirting has voted against a motion for a women’s conference to be held in Parliament.

Sir Christopher Chope, 71, objected to female MPs using parliament for a conference to mark 100 years since women were given the right to vote.

His objection was met by cries of “shame” from his fellow MPs on Monday evening.

His actions spurred Penny Mordaunt, the Women and Equalities Minister to leave her seat on the front bench and talk to the bill blocker after he objected.

On Tuesday morning he revoked his objectionm, allowing the conference to go ahead.

He shouted down the bill that would have criminalised what Prime Minister Theresa May called "invasive" and "degrading" act when she pledged to revive an attempt to ban it.

He said he objected to the bill as he did not think there had been enough time to debate it.

His refusal to let the bill pass sparked widespread criticism and caused some MPs to hang a string of underwear on his office door and brand him a “dinosaur” and a “pervert.”

In an interview published in the Daily Echo he said: "I feel a bit sore about being scapegoated over this," he said."The suggestion that I am some kind of pervert is a complete travesty of the truth.

"It's defamatory of my character and it's very depressing some of my colleagues have been perpetuating that in the past 48 hours."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in