Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD on grotesque dinosaur Christopher Chope, who blocked a bill to make up-skirting a criminal offence, & another making it easier to protect girls from FGM, & who has been nominated to join the privileges committee & probe into #Partygate.

Who is this fossilised dickhead?

Chope was chairman of the Thatcherite Conservative Way Forward group, recently relaunched by climate-skeptic Steve Baker.

During the 2009 expenses scandal, it emerged that Chope claimed £136,992 in parliamentary expenses in 2007–8. This included claiming £881 to repair a sofa.

In October 2011, Chope questioned the time allotted to a debate on MPs' pensions. The debate came before a debate into the Hillsborough disaster inquiry & it was reported that Chope had threatened to delay the inquiry, leading to widespread criticism.

liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool…

Posh twat Chope was criticised following remarks made in 2013, when he referred to House of Commons dining room staff as "servants": "The service was absolutely fantastic because there was three-to-one service: three servants for each person sitting down."
news.sky.com/story/tory-mp-…

Chope was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for political & public service.

On 10 February 2009, free-marketeer Chope co-sponsored an Employment Opportunities Bill to the House of Commons, which would have enabled workers to opt out of the minimum wage.😬

Entirely predictably, anti-reality anti-Net Zero dinosaur Chope is highly sceptical of climate change, & attended a meeting of climate change sceptics in the Palace of Westminster in October 2010, along with fellow imbecilic dinosaur, John Redwood.

theguardian.com/environment/bl…

Again entirely predictably, Chope helped to lead backbench support for the motion calling for a referendum to leave the EU, & was also heavily involved in the use of private member's bills to achieve this aim.

bbc.co.uk/blogs/markdarc…

Hateful Eurosceptic extremist crank Chope has consistently supported Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

Prior to the 2016 referendum, he announced his support for Brexit. He of course supported the dodgy 'Leave Means Leave' pressure group.

web.archive.org/web/2017102415…

Obviously, reactionary living fossil Chope voted against the legislation for same-sex marriage in 2013, & in 2014 Chope voted against requiring all companies with more than 250 employees to declare the gap in pay between the average male and average female salaries.

In June 2013, grotesque antiquated regressive bigot Chope was one of four MPs who camped outside Parliament in a move to facilitate parliamentary debate on an 'Alternative Queen's Speech' – an attempt to show what a future (far-right #neofascist) Conservative Govt might deliver.

In July 2017, Chope & Peter Bone tabled 73 bills between them, including privatise the @BBC & @Channel4, of which 47 were placed by Chope. To be at the front of the queue to table the bills, the pair had camped in the Palace of Westminster for three days.
bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15441893.…

In March 2019, Chope was one of 21 MPs who voted against LGBT inclusive sex & relationship education in English schools, preferring instead to disregard the needs of non-straight children. All but two of the antiquated out-of-touch MPs were Tories or DUP.

attitude.co.uk/article/these-…

Chope is a member of a group of backbench Tory cranks who regularly object to private members bills.

This conduct, along with his involvement in cutting the public housing budget during his time in government, has earned Chope the nickname "Chopper".

Chope does not tend to object to bills aligning with his own political views. "In case anyone is tempted to believe he has a principled objection to private members' bills, please note that once again he did not object to those put forward by his friends."
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tory-mp-…

In 2013, Chope objected to the second reading of the Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill in the House of Commons, so the government decided to act under the royal prerogative of mercy. On 24 December 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a free pardon.

independent.co.uk/news/people/ne…

In November 2014, untrainable dumb animal Chope blocked a bill that would have banned the use of wild animals in circus performances, on the pathetically flimsy basis that a bill on EU membership should have been called before the bill.

bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/11602645.…

Also in 2014, Chope, rumoured to be a landlord, with Philip Davies, filibustered a bill intended to make revenge evictions an offence, claiming the bill would have weakened landlords' ability to recover possessions, deterring them from letting properties.
bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/11635068.…

In October 2015, Chope, Davies and Conservative MP David Nuttall filibustered & blocked a proposed law to introduce free hospital parking for carers by speaking in the House of Commons for 93 minutes in order to use up the time allocated for the debate.

theguardian.com/society/2015/o…

This thread started with Chope blocking the passage of a private member's bill that would have made up-skirting a specific offence - which drew immediate criticism from Labour, other, & fellow Tory MPs, & the then prime minister, Theresa May, who expressed her disappointment.

Following his suspicious, unforgivable, misogynistic & pathetically infantile objection, the government ignored the twat & reaffirmed its commitment to introduce legislation to outlaw up-skirting. The bill passed subject to royal assent in January 2019.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-468846…

In protest at his actions, staff at the House of Commons placed a bunting of women's underwear outside his office entrance. A similar bunting was also placed outside his constituency office.

Protestors also confronted Chope at his constituency surgery.

bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/16307492.…

On the same day as the up-skirting bill, Chope & Davies forced a delay to the final debate on a bill which would have improved the oversight of the use of force in mental health units.

He also blocked a bill which would have given extra legal protection to police dogs & horses.

In July 2018, Chope blocked a motion calling for the House of Commons chamber to be used for a Women MPs of the World Conference in November, when MPs were not sitting. The conference was due to the mark the centenary of women's suffrage in the UK.

independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

Alongside fellow swivel-eyed loon Desmond Swayne, Chope tabled an amendment to the motion which would require the conference to invite only parliamentarians & hold a debate while using the chamber. The government resubmitted the motion with the support of several departments.

In November 2018, Chope objected to a bill which would have amended the Children Act 1989 in order to increase the protective power of courts over girls at risk of female genital mutilation. Dickhead Chope said the bill was an act of "virtue signalling".

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

Lord Berkeley of Knighton, who had introduced the FGM bill to the House of Lords, called for Chope to be deselected. On 8 February 2019, Chope again blocked the bill. However on 15 March 2019 - despite this old git's best efforts - the bill received its Royal Assent & became law.

On 15 November 2021, it was reported Chope had caused fury among @Conservatives Parliamentary Party when he objected to a motion from the Select Committee on Standards that would have passed the report regarding the #LobbyingScandal around the rules breached by Owen Paterson.

The Tory Parliamentary Party was hoping the vote would draw a line underneath the episode and allow the government to move on from accusations of sleaze, but Chope's intervention simply allowed the criticism to continue.

One Govt minister expressed anonymously that "He has been for many year a Jurassic embarrassment – tonight he crossed a line. The man should retire & the executive are livid".

Christopher Chope is an anachronism: he belongs in a Victorian freakshow, not the privileges committee.