Christopher Chope, who blocked upskirting private members’ bill, has 32 bills of his own The MP who halted a private members’ bill to outlaw upskirting – citing his objections to making laws by private […]

The MP who halted a private members’ bill to outlaw upskirting – citing his objections to making laws by private members’ bill – is pursuing dozens of his own bills.

Sir Christopher Chope, Conservative MP for Christchurch, came to public attention after he shouted “object!” to a Liberal Democrat MP’s proposal to ban taking photographs up a woman’s skirt.

In the face of angry backlash from the public and his fellow Tory MPs, Sir Christopher said his opposition was “about who controls the House of Commons on Fridays and that’s where I am coming from”.

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The 71-year-old is pursuing 32 private members’ bills of his own on Friday 6 July, the next day when backbench MPs can put their ideas forward.

Raft of bills

Among the bills Sir Christopher has put forward are proposals on stamp duty, student loans, judicial appointments and the BBC license fee.

He has also put forward bills about fruit and vegetable classifications, mobile homes and the habitats bats are kept in.

Almost half of the bills proposed in the time allocated for hundreds of backbench MPs originate with Sir Christopher.

The backbench MP did not respond when approached by i for comment.

Upskirting

When challenged on why he objected to the upskirting bill, Sir Christopher said he felt “scapegoated” by the incident and insisted that it was all about process.

He told the Bournemouth Echo: “The government has been hijacking time that is rightfully that of backbenchers. This is about who controls the House of Commons on Fridays and that’s where I am coming from.”

He added that: “The government is abusing parliamentary time for its own ends and in a democracy this is not acceptable. The government cannot just bring in what it wants on the nod. We don’t quite live in the Putin era yet.”

Sir Christopher says he supports banning upskirting, but not by a private members’ bill.