Knickers have been draped outside the constituency office of Sir Christopher Chope, the Conservative MP who sparked outrage by single-handedly blocking a new law to criminalise upskirting.
Lorna Rees, the artist behind the underwear protest, declared: “No one should be able to photo my pants unless I want them to.”
In several posts on Twitter, she added: “I hope my anti-Chope constituency pant protest shows solidarity.
“He’s not representing the best interests of people – protecting women in this case – he’s crying parliamentary procedure and hiding.”
Sir Christopher, MP for Christchurch in Dorset, said on Sunday he actually supported measures to make upskirting illegal, calling it “vulgar, humiliating and unacceptable”.
But the 71-year-old member claimed he blocked the bill on a point of principle. He said he does not agree with legislation being brought before parliament on a Friday when there it not time for it to fully debated.
Certain bills brought on the last day of the week can be waved through without full discussion – but it takes just one objection to spike them. If approved, they would still face Commons debate and scrutiny later in the process.
Reacting to a barrage of criticism – both online and from other MPs – Sir Christopher said: “I feel a bit sore about being scapegoated over this… 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.”
He denied being out of touch and added: “The suggestion that I am some sort of pervert is a complete travesty of the truth.”
Gina Martin, who first proposed the bill and was herself a victim of upskirting, said: ”I’m happy to see that Sir Christopher has reflected and become a supporter … today is a good day for the campaign and when our bill goes through it will be a brilliant day for women and girls across the country.”
Wera Hobhouse, a Liberal Democrat MP, called for Sir Christopher to apologise.
She said his objection was “irresponsible and fundamentally wrong”, and added: “By objecting to the bill Christopher Chope let women in England and Wales down.
“I therefore expect him to make a full apology to all the woman who have been harassed and degraded by this vile practice.”
The knickers protest came as it was revealed the proposed legislation – officially called the Voyeurism (Offences) Bill – will return to parliament on 6 July.
If approved, it may still become law by the summer.
Meanwhile, a former deputy speaker of the House of Commons has called for a change to the “arcane” procedures which allowed Sir Christopher to block the legislation.
Nigel Evans, Conservative MP for Ribble Valley, has written to the Commons Procedure Committee to demand a review of parliament’s rules.
He said: “I was so angry by the fact that not just the upskirting bill but a number of other bills on Friday, which are decent bills that deserved some form of airtime, were blocked in this way.”
