Christopher Chope objects again: this time he scuttles female genital mutilation bill He is the MP who also objected to a bill that would have made upskirting an offence

Christopher Chope, the Tory MP who controversially blocked the parliamentary bill to make upskirting a criminal offence, has blocked a bill to make it easier to prevent female genital mutilation of children.

Sir Christopher, MP for Christchurch in Dorset, shouted object to the Female Genital Mutilation Bill getting a second reading in the House of Commons.

Labour MP Luke Pollard tweeted:

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In a shock to no one Christopher Chope MP has just shouted object to the female genital mutuliation Bill getting a second reading. — Luke Pollard MP (@LukePollard) November 23, 2018

Chope, 71, is said to object to private members bills, especially those coming from other parties. The FGM Bill was sponsored by Lord Berkeley of Knighton, who sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.

Chope ‘halts important improvement’

Introducing the bill to Parliament, Lord Berkeley said it seeks to make a one-line amendment to the Children Act 1989, that would “considerably extend protection to young girls at greatest risk of genital mutilation”.

After Sir Christopher stepped in, Lord Berkeley reacted:

Bravo, Now PLEASE help me get my FGM Bill (which the Government backs) through the Commons. Amazing that Chope can halt an important improvement to the protection of young girls & how ironic that he has done so (for no discernible reason) on the day you launch this initiative. https://t.co/S3LxcApwO2 — Michael Berkeley (@MichaelBerkele2) November 23, 2018

Chope has himself sponsored dozens of private members bills.

Fellow Conservative MPs rounded on their backbench colleague after he objected to the upskirting bill preventing it becoming law. Tory MP Paul Masterton said: “Do not underestimate just how furious many Tory MPs are about this. This kind of thing does far more damage to the public’s view of our party than endless debates about customs arrangements.”

After blocking the upskirting bill Shis name made it into the online urban dictionary as a word used to describe an “out of touch (typically straight/white) males whose sheer disconnect with contemporary soceity threatens to send them to any aneurysm-induced early grave.”