Senior Conservative MP Christopher Chope yesterday withdrew his Minimum Wage (Amendment) Bill from business in the Commons after being told the Government would oppose it, abandoning (for the time being) an effort to give some employers the right to pay below the minimum wage.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jt4Ep9jeIV6SpCQz3wDp25_o0WbQ?docId=N0304421299256049283A
Unsurprisingly for a hard right Thatcherite, Chope has previous form where the minimum wage is concerned. In February 2009, he called for the minimum wage to be abolished in a short lived Employment Opportunities Bill.
It speaks volumes about this former Minister’s barbaric contempt for the disadvantaged that late year he was responsible for blocking a bill to protect the world's poorest countries from debt sharks use of "vulture funds", despite supposed Conservative Party's support for the legislation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Chope
