To be fucking furious that a Tory MP just prevented upskirting being made a criminal offence?

[gracielacey]

Tory MP Christopher Chope has just singlehandedly prevented the passing of the private members bill supported by the government that would have made upskirting a sexual offence, by shouting Object.

Can I urge you all to leave a message on his parliamentary office answerphone and email him to ask why he thinks men should be entitled to photograph women's genitalia?

(Post Edited by MNHQ)

I think the shocking thing about this was that 1 person can block something like this with 1 word, against the will of pretty much everybody else

Surely that's nothing close to democracy is it?!

By the way I also emailed him.

Great tweet from Richard Herring:

I can only assume we now know what Sir Christopher Chope’s main hobby is. I think we should name it Choping in honour of him

I’ve called and left a message expressing my anger and disappointment.
How could anyone not agree with his law??

How did he do that singlehandedly?

Private members bills are bills introduced by MPs outside of the cabinet and are a lot harder to move along due to the ability for any single MP to veto them, as in this case.

There are only a few private members bills that become law each year and nearly always from the ruling party (which is why it's no surprise this one didn't make it either, it's somewhat traditional - though a bit old-fashioned and petty - to veto any PMB from a non-ruling party). They should probably be scrapped or the process changed.

I doubt he'll be bothered about getting hundreds of emails, he'll just ignore them.

I think it would be much more effective for everyone to email their local MP asking them to put pressure on the Tory party to take action against him.

I agree the process should be changed. If a majoritu vote for the bill it should be passed

One thing that can happen, however, is that if there's enough support for the bill otherwise, it can be adopted as "official" government policy and pushed through in other ways. This has happened with all sorts of laws similar to this one and may happen here too.

If a majoritu vote for the bill it should be passed

I'd agree if every MP had to vote, the problem is only a handful tend to be sat around when reading through these PMBs (otherwise they'd literally do nothing else but sit in the Commons). As such, it could VERY dangerous if a party with an axe to grind pushed through their own laws by privately committing to all attend at certain times.

I've emailed him too. Less eloquently than Hollow 😄.

It is possible for upskirting to be prosecuted under offending public decency. If it can’t be proven that public decency was offended then no offence was committed. The current position is inadequate as it doesn’t recognise the offence against the victim themselves.

I think Chope is a barrister and probably feels it is unnecessary legislation as it is “already covered” by offending public decency. He is a dinosaur who refuses to realise that the law needs to react proactively to changes created by modern technology.

YANBU!

How’s could anyone possibly object to this???

I have emailed him too. I am so angry about this happening. Chope's silly little Friday afternoon game will hopefully cost him at the next election if we (women?) don't forget or forgive this.

Horrendous. Let's see if Teresa May can find her balls and deal with him. Though pigs might fly first. She can't even manage Boris!

I also emailed No. 10 for good measure. I know our emails will be ignored but "better to light one candle than shout at the dark".

I agree that we should all be emailing our own MPs on this issue. And enlisting our friends and family to do the same..

What a ghastly person he is!

He's also objected to Finn's Law and prevented it being an offence to injure or kill a service animal. It sounds as though he's objecting to everything. Knob.

The Bill will now return to the Commons on July 6 - however there is no guarantee it will be debated.

I have popped this in my diary... we shall see!

Just sent my e-mail! I understand the view that there are other laws that should cover this behaviour, but in practice prosecuting is difficult using generalist laws. Making "upskirting" a specific offence both makes it easier to prosecute, and sends a clear message that the behaviour is unacceptable.

Utterly unbelievable.

What sort of foul misogynist would want to block this protection for women.

I've emailed the Prick...

Some crossover with post about Lawyer Nick Freeman

One thing that can happen, however, is that if there's enough support for the bill otherwise, it can be adopted as "official" government policy and pushed through in other ways. This has happened with all sorts of laws similar to this one and may happen here too.

I hope that is true. There has to overwhelming support for this across the country. It's not like there's any ambiguity. "Oh sorry, I accidentally took a photo under your skirt" Nope. Never happens.

Also, if it does still go through, at least this will have raised awareness of the issue a bit more as it is probably getting more media coverage now < (trying to remain optimistic)

As pp said, he is probably the sort of Toryboy who think it’s all jolly japes against the “PC” brigade.