In recent weeks I have been attempting to push a simple Bill through Parliament.

The Kew Gardens Bill would allow Kew Gardens to lease unused buildings it owns for 150 years, rather than 31 years. The change would bring in around £40 million, and is supported by Kew Gardens, Sir David Attenborough, numerous London MPs (from all Parties) and Government.

I have always felt immensely privileged to represent Kew Gardens. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, attracting almost two million visitors a year – including 100,000 schoolchildren, and is an oasis of calm in our frantic city. It is, as Sir David Attenborough has said “the premier botanical gardens in the world”.

It has the world’s largest collection of living plants and it has one of the world’s largest botanical library collections. Its herbarium has over 7 million plant specimens, and the collection is being digitised to make it available to everyone.

But Kew’s real value derives from its extraordinary work in plant science for over 250 years. Today it is leading efforts to identify ways in which plants can help combat cancer, diabetes, anti-microbial resistance and more.

Kew is also leading the way on climate change adaptation of crops. Half of the calories consumed by humanity come from just three big grasses— wheat, maize and rice. That makes us hugely vulnerable, and so that work being done at Kew to breed resilience into essential commodities is critically important.

I have raised Kew Gardens numerous times in Parliament. A few years ago I led a campaign to persuade Government to reverse its plans to cut science funding at Kew. The day after my debate in Parliament, Nick Clegg was wheeled out to announce additional funding.

I assumed my Kew Gardens Bill would sail through. But I hadn’t properly considered Chris Chope.

Chope is an MP who uses arcane Parliamentary procedure to Kill off Bills he doesn’t like. Previously, he has objected to a debate on Hillsborough (he wanted to debate MP Pensions instead); he blocked a Bill to pardon the late hero Alan Turing for the then-crime of being homosexual; he blocked a Bill to ban wild animals in circuses. He was also, incidentally, one of a small handful of MPs to vote against the Climate Change Act. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he blocked my Kew Bill as well.

I will continue to press the case of course. In the meantime, Kew scientists name around 200 new species per year. Perhaps they could reserve an appropriate fungus to name after Mr Chope.