Sir Christopher Chope, the Tory MP who shouted out “object” last night in the House of Commons stopping the motion that would have accepted the Standards Committee report into Owen Paterson, is something of a serial grumbler. He’s so well known for blocking anything from upskirting to the Hillsborough disaster, that fellow Tories have a word for his activities; to chope or choping. But this time around many Tory MPs are so furious with them they have accused him on some WhatsApp messages flying around of being a ‘bed-blocker’, a ‘prick’ and a ‘selfish twat’ for stopping the motion with his lone shout.
This means the Commons will have to debate the matter for an hour before it can pass. Parliamentary convention means that any ‘opposed’ motion cannot be dealt with until all official business ends.
So who is Chope? The 74-year-old has been MP for Christchurch since 1997 and has made a name for himself objecting to often very popular private members’ bills such as those regarding female genital mutilation: he even took issue with a posthumous pardon to codebreaker Alan Turing.
But Chope’s defence is not that he is against these bills. Rather, that he votes on the principle of motions being passed without sufficient scrutiny or debate. Which in the case of the motion passing the committee report into Paterson, is just what Downing Street hoped would happen on Monday night to avoid drawing more attention to the controversy. And it’s why so many Tory MPs are so angry with him. Some even want him de-selected. That would be something of an own goal: the Brexit-supporting Chope had the second strongest seat in the country with a vote share of 69% and a majority of 47%.
