Athelstane Aamodt examines the wonderfully British way in which an MP must leave Parliament
On 12 September David Cameron, the Member of Parliament for Whitney and the former prime minster, announced that he had stood down as an MP. This was obviously big news, but the reporting of Mr Cameron’s announcement—as is usually the case with MPs that stand down—did not mention an utterly bizarre fact about Members of Parliament in the UK: they cannot resign.
Under a resolution of the House of Commons, dated 2 March 1624, it was held that “a man, after he is duly chosen, cannot relinquish”. The convention previous to this was that MPs could not resign, although Parliament did occasionally order by-elections in the cases of members that were incurably ill or infirm.
On 30 December 1680, another resolution of the House of Commons was passed. It said: “Resolved, Nemine contradicente . That no member of this house shall accept any office, or place or profit, from the Crown, without the leave of this House, or any promise of any such office, or place of profit, during such time as
