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Procedural device to allow British MPs to resign From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Appointment to the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds (or the Three Hundreds of Chiltern) is a procedural device to allow members of Parliament (MPs) to resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Since MPs are technically unable to resign their seats in the House of Commons, they must resort to a legal fiction. An appointment to an "office of profit under The Crown" disqualifies an individual from sitting as an MP. Although several offices were used in the past to allow MPs to resign, only the stewardships of the Chiltern Hundreds and the Manor of Northstead are in present use.[1]
Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham | |
---|---|
Appointer | Chancellor of the Exchequer |
On 2 March 1624, a resolution was passed by the House of Commons making it illegal for an MP to quit or wilfully give up their seat. Believing that officers of the Crown could not remain impartial, the House passed a resolution on 30 December 1680 stating that an MP who "shall accept any Office, or Place of Profit, from the Crown, without the Leave of this House ... shall be expelled [from] this House." However, MPs were able to hold Crown Stewardships until 1740, when Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn was deemed to have vacated his Commons seat after becoming Steward of the Lordship and Manor of Bromfield and Yale.[1] The practice of leaving the house when appointed as a minister of crown would result in a ministerial by-election until the early 20th century when this requirement was removed for most substantive offices.[citation needed]
The Chiltern Hundreds last needed a Crown Steward in the 18th century. When John Pitt wished to vacate his seat for Wareham in order to stand for Dorchester, the Crown Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds was available for this purpose. Pitt was appointed Crown Steward on 25 January 1751.[1]
A number of other offices were subsequently used for resignation, but only the Chiltern Hundreds and the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead are still in use.[1] Appointees to the Chiltern Hundreds are alternated with the Manor of Northstead, allowing two MPs to resign at once. When more than two MPs resign, such as the 1985 walkout of Ulster Unionist MPs, appointees are dismissed after a few hours to allow other resigning MPs to take their place.[1] The Parliamentary Information Office has produced a list of those appointed to the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds since 1850.[2]
Party | Abbreviation |
---|---|
All-for-Ireland League | AFIL |
Coalition Conservative | Co Con |
Coalition Liberal | Co Lib |
Conservative Party | Con |
Democratic Unionist Party | DUP |
Home Rule League | HRL |
Independent | Ind |
Irish National Federation | INF |
Irish Parliamentary Party | IPP |
Unspecified Irish Nationalist (pre-1922) party | Nat |
Labour Party | Lab |
Liberal Party (pre-1988) | Lib |
Liberal Democrats | Lib Dem |
Liberal Unionist Party | LU |
National Labour | N Lab |
National Liberal Party | N Lib |
Ulster Democratic Unionist Party | UDUP |
Ulster Unionist Party | UU |
Unionist Party | UP |
Whig | Whig |
Date | Member[20] | Constituency | Party | Reason for resignation | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
25 October 1950 | Hon. Sir Stafford Cripps | Bristol South East | Lab | Medical advice[42] | |
22 March 1951 | Sir Ronald Ross, Bt | Londonderry | Con | Appointed Agent of the Government of Northern Ireland in London | |
11 May 1951 | Rhys Davies | Westhoughton | Lab | Ill health[43] | |
8 October 1952 | Hon. Sir Hugh O'Neill | North Antrim | Con | Retirement[44] | |
21 January 1953 | Sidney Schofield | Barnsley | Lab | Personal and domestic reasons[45] | |
14 February 1953 | Hon. Edward Carson | Isle of Thanet | Con | Ill health[46] | |
3 June 1953 | Peter Bennett | Birmingham Edgbaston | Con | Raised to the peerage as Baron Bennett of Edgbaston[47] | |
27 October 1953 | William J. Field | Paddington North | Lab | Convicted of importuning for immoral purposes[48] | |
15 January 1954 | Richard Law | Haltemprice | Con | Raised to the peerage as Baron Coleraine[49] | |
12 February 1954 | William Cuthbert | Arundel and Shoreham | Con | Ill health[50] | |
3 October 1954 | Sidney Marshall | Sutton and Cheam | Con | Ill health[51] | |
28 November 1954 | Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton | Inverness | Con | Ill health; to help economic development of the Highlands through private enterprise[52] | |
7 May 1956 | Gerald Wellington Williams | Tonbridge | Con | Ill health[53] | |
26 November 1956 | Stanley Evans | Wednesbury | Lab | Requested to resign by his Constituency Labour Party after supporting the Government over the Suez Crisis | |
2 May 1957 | William Darling | Edinburgh South | Con | Ill health[54] | |
8 November 1957 | Victor Raikes | Liverpool Garston | Con | To take up a business appointment in Southern Rhodesia[55] | |
18 April 1958 | Angus Maude | Ealing South | Con | To become editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.[56] | |
1 June 1961 | Hon. David Ormsby-Gore | Oswestry | Con | Appointed British Ambassador to the United States[57] | |
29 November 1961 | Hilary Marquand | Middlesbrough East | Lab | Appointed Director of the Institute of Labour Studies at the International Labour Office[58] | |
22 January 1962 | George Chetwynd | Stockton-on-Tees | Lab | Appointed Director of the North East Development Council[59] | |
6 June 1963 | John Profumo | Stratford-on-Avon | Con | Confessed to misleading the House (the Profumo affair)[60] | |
9 March 1964 | Peter Smithers | Winchester | Con | Appointed Secretary General of the Council of Europe[61] | |
24 June 1965 | Anthony Marlowe | Hove | Con | Medical advice | |
29 September 1967 | William Roots | Kensington South | Con | Ill health[62] | |
15 January 1968 | Leslie Hale | Oldham West | Lab | Ill health[63] | |
6 February 1969 | William Teeling | Brighton Pavilion | Con | Ill health | |
7 March 1969 | Francis Noel-Baker | Swindon | Lab | Ill health[64] | |
11 January 1971 | Horace King | Southampton Itchen | Speaker | Retiring Speaker of the House of Commons | |
30 March 1972 | Ray Gunter | Southwark | Ind | Had left the Labour Party; decided it would be improper to remain as an independent having been elected as Labour[65] | |
29 December 1972 | George Thomson | Dundee East | Lab | Appointed a European Commissioner | |
1 June 1973 | Antony Lambton | Berwick-upon-Tweed | Con | Prostitution scandal | |
27 August 1976 | John Stonehouse | Walsall North | Eng Nat | Convicted on 18 counts of theft and fraud, sentenced to seven years' imprisonment | |
12 November 1976 | David Lane | Cambridge | Con | Appointed Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality[66] | |
5 January 1977 | Roy Jenkins | Birmingham Stechford | Lab | Appointed President of the European Commission | |
16 June 1977 | Brian Walden | Birmingham Ladywood | Lab | In order to become a broadcast journalist on Weekend World | |
6 April 1978 | Peter Rawlinson | Epsom and Ewell | Con | Retiring from the Commons; was made a life peer[67] | |
24 October 1979 | Geoffrey Dodsworth | South West Hertfordshire | Con | Medical advice[citation needed] | |
1 November 1982 | Robert Mellish | Bermondsey | Ind | Left the Labour Party in opposition to the selection of his successor; to become vice-chairman of the London Docklands Development Corporation[68] | |
17 December 1985 | James Molyneaux | Lagan Valley | UUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
17 December 1985 | Roy Beggs | East Antrim | UUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
17 December 1985 | Harold McCusker | Armagh | UUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
17 December 1985 | William Ross | Londonderry | UUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
17 December 1985 | John Taylor | Strangford | UUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
17 December 1985 | James Kilfedder | North Down | UPUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
17 December 1985 | Jim Nicholson | Newry and Armagh | UUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
17 December 1985 | William McCrea | Mid Ulster | DUP | Seeking re-election in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement[69] | |
24 June 1986 | John Golding | Newcastle-under-Lyme | Lab | Elected General Secretary of the National Communications Union[70] | |
18 October 1988 | Bruce Millan | Glasgow Govan | Lab | Appointed a European Commissioner[71] | |
18 May 1989 | Stuart Holland | Vauxhall | Lab | In order to take up a lectureship at the European University Institute | |
20 January 1995 | Neil Kinnock | Islwyn | Lab | Appointed a European Commissioner[72] | |
28 June 1999 | Alastair Goodlad | Eddisbury | Con | Appointed British High Commissioner to Australia[73] |
Date | Member[20] | Constituency | Party | Reason for resignation | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
23 October 2000 | Betty Boothroyd | West Bromwich West | Speaker | Retiring as Speaker of the House of Commons.[74] | |
22 June 2004 | Terry Davis | Birmingham Hodge Hill | Lab | Appointed Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. | |
27 June 2007 | Tony Blair | Sedgefield | Lab | Appointed Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East.[75] | |
18 June 2008 | David Davis | Haltemprice and Howden | Con | Seeking re-election in protest to the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008.[76] | |
8 June 2009[77] | Ian Gibson | Norwich North | Lab | Alleged misuse of allowances led to his being ruled ineligible for selection as a Labour candidate by an NEC panel.[78] | |
13 January 2010[79] | Iris Robinson | Strangford | DUP | Ill health; followed allegations about her personal life.[80] | |
8 February 2011 | Eric Illsley | Barnsley Central | Lab | Pleaded guilty to false accounting in relation to claims for parliamentary expenses.[81] | |
2 March 2012[82] | Marsha Singh | Bradford West | Lab | Ill health.[83] | |
22 October 2012[84] | Alun Michael | Cardiff South and Penarth | Lab | To contest the Police and Crime Commissioner election for South Wales Police Force Area.[85] | |
5 November 2012[86] | Denis MacShane | Rotherham | Lab | Standards and Privileges Committee of the House of Commons recommended that he be suspended from the service of the House for six months, for knowingly submitting false invoices. | |
5 February 2013[87] | Chris Huhne | Eastleigh | Lib Dem | Pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. | |
30 April 2014[88] | Patrick Mercer | Newark | Ind | Elected as Conservative, but had quit the whip at the commencement of investigations on 31 May 2013.[89] The Standards Committee of the House of Commons agreed a report recommending he be suspended from the service of the House for six months for breaking the rule against paid advocacy. | |
30 September 2014[90] | Mark Reckless | Rochester and Strood | Con | To seek re-election as a UKIP candidate. | |
9 May 2016[91] | Sadiq Khan | Tooting | Lab | Elected as Mayor of London. | |
26 October 2016[92][93] | Zac Goldsmith | Richmond Park | Con | Seeking re-election having pledged to do so should the Government endorse a third runway at Heathrow Airport. | |
23 January 2017[94] | Hon. Tristram Hunt | Stoke-on-Trent Central | Lab | To direct the Victoria and Albert Museum. | |
16 January 2018[95] | Barry McElduff | West Tyrone | SF | Became embroiled in a controversy over the Kingsmill massacre on social media. | |
28 October 2019[96] | John Mann | Bassetlaw | Lab | Nomination to House of Lords announced in 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours. No by-election held due to the 2019 general election being called. | |
16 March 2021[97] | Mike Hill | Hartlepool | Lab | Pending sexual harassment tribunal. | |
10 May 2021[98] | Tracy Brabin | Batley and Spen | Lab Co-op | Election as Mayor of West Yorkshire. | |
3 May 2022[99] | Imran Ahmad Khan | Wakefield | Con | Criminal conviction for sexual assault. Elected as Conservative in 2019, suspended from the party in June 2021 pending a trial. Expelled after he was convicted in April 2022.[100][101] | |
21 October 2022[102] | Christian Matheson | City of Chester | Lab | Independent Expert Panel parliamentary watchdog recommended he be suspended for "serious sexual misconduct".[103] | |
30 November 2022[104] | Rosie Cooper | West Lancashire | Lab | To take up the role of chair of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.[105] | |
12 June 2023[106] | Boris Johnson | Uxbridge and South Ruislip | Con | Resignation after being handed draft results of investigation into allegations he misled Parliament over Partygate.[107] | |
29 August 2023[108] | Nadine Dorries | Mid Bedfordshire | Con | Resigned regarding a dispute relating to not receiving a peerage in Johnson's resignation honours. The appointment came 81 days after she announced her resignation "with immediate effect".[109] | |
8 January 2024[110] | Chris Skidmore | Kingswood | Con | Resigned over disagreements with the Government's policy on net zero.[111] |
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