On 10 February 2009, he called for the
minimum wage to be abolished. His Employment Opportunities Bill, which would, according to Chope, introduce more freedom to the job market and decrease unemployment, was backed by ten other Conservative MPs at the first reading, among them
Edward Leigh,
David Wilshire,
Nigel Evans,
Bill Cash and
Peter Bone.
Later that year, in the
expenses scandal, it emerged that Chope claimed £136,992 in parliamentary expenses in 2007/08. This included claiming £881 to repair a sofa.
[6]
On 12 March 2010, he was responsible for the blocking of a bill to protect poor countries from "
vulture funds", despite his party's support for the bill.
[7]
In October 2010, Chope helped host a meeting of
climate-science sceptics at Westminster.
[8]
On 11 October 2011, Chope raised an eleventh-hour objection to the
Hillsborough debate taking place because he believed a debate about MPs' pensions was more important. Cries of "shame" echoed around the chamber and Labour MP
Jamie Reed said that the perpetrator should be "named and shamed" for raising the objection.
[9]
Chope helped to lead backbench support for the motion calling for a European Referendum. He has also been heavily involved in the use of
private member's bills to achieve this aim.
[10]
Chope came under fire in January 2013 for referring to some staff in the House of Commons as "servants". Parallels were drawn between this opinion and his views on the
minimum wage.
[11]
Chope voted against the legislation for
same-sex marriage in 2013.
[12]
In June 2013 Chope was one of four MPs who camped outside Parliament in a move to facilitate parliamentary debate on what they called an "Alternative Queen’s Speech" – an attempt to show what a future Conservative government might deliver.
[13] 42 policies were listed including reintroduction of the
death penalty and
conscription, privatizing the
BBC, banning the
burka in public places and preparation to leave the
European Union.
[13] The Daily Telegraph believed the whips sent
Edward Leigh to try and persuade the group not to table the amendments.
[13]
In December 2013 Chope objected
[14][15] to the second reading of the
Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill in the
House of Commons. Because of this, the Government decided to act under the
royal prerogative of mercy. On 24 December 2013
Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a free pardon.
[16][17]
On 28 November 2014 Chope, a private landlord, filibustered a Liberal Democrat bill with cross party support intended to make
revenge evictions an offence.
[18]
In 2014 Chope along with six other
Conservative Party MPs voted against the Equal Pay (Transparency) Bill which would require all companies with more than 250 employees to declare the gap in pay between the average male and average female salaries.
[19]
He came under criticism in late 2014 for repeatedly blocking a bill that would ban the use of wild animals in circus performances, justifying his actions by saying "The EU Membership Costs and Benefits bill should have been called by the clerk before the circuses bill, so I raised a point of order".
[20]
In October 2015, Chope joined fellow Conservative members
Philip Davies and
David Nuttall in extended speeches, known as a
filibuster, against a private member's bill that would have placed restrictions on hospital parking charges for carers. Their actions caused the bill to run out of time.
[21]
