Protester hangs knickers outside office of MP who blocked upskirting bill

Protests against the Conservative MP Christopher Chope, who blocked a bill to make upskirting a specific criminal offence, have extended to parliament, where a mystery dissenter draped a string of women’s pants across his office door.

Four pairs of lacy knickers were pinned together and taped to the door like bunting on Monday; a suspender belt and another pair of pants were attached, but later fell off or were pulled down.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the prank.

The protest follows widespread criticism of the MP for Christchurch after he used parliamentary procedure on Friday to delay the voyeurism (offences) bill on upskirting – the surreptitious taking of sexually intrusive images.

Chope has been criticised by a series of fellow Tory MPs, among others, and Theresa May has promised the government will now adopt the private member’s bill, tabled by the Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse.

Adding to the pressure on Chope, the Speaker, John Bercow, granted an urgent question in the Commons from Hobhouse, to which a minister will have to respond.

On Saturday, Chope was subject to a similar protest at his Dorset constituency office. A local artist, Lorna Rees, made some “knicker bunting” and draped it across the office door. Writing on the underwear said: “No one should be able to photo my pants unless I want them to.”

The bill followed a campaign by Gina Martin. Police declined to prosecute a man Martin accused of taking underskirt pictures of her on his phone at a music festival in London last summer. The new law would create a new criminal offence punishable by up to two years in prison.

Chope delayed the bill by shouting “object” during its second reading in the Commons, meaning it could not be put through to the next stage without debate and a vote, which will not happen for some weeks.

In his first response to the affair on Sunday, Chope told his local newspaper that he backed the intent of the bill, but objected to it because he does not support the principle of legislation being passed without debate at second reading.

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.”

The MP said he was “a bit sore about being scapegoated over this”, and had talked to the Tory chief whip about the criticism he had received from colleagues.

Chope said: “The suggestion that I am some kind of pervert is a complete travesty of the truth. It’s defamatory of my character, and it’s very depressing some of my colleagues have been perpetuating that in the past 48 hours.”

On Sunday, May declined to condemn Chope, but promised the bill would be put through parliament in government time.

Asked on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show why Chope had recently been knighted, the prime minister said: “Christopher Chope has been a longstanding member of parliament.”

She added: “What we’re going to do on this upskirting issue is put in government time and make sure that legislation is there on the statute book. This is an invasive, offensive act and we need to take action against it.”