The office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead functions as a procedural device to allow a

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) to resign from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the United Kingdom. As members of the House of Commons are forbidden from formally resigning, a

legal fiction A legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts, which is then used in order to help reach a decision or to apply a legal rule. The concept is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions, particularly in England and Wales. Deve ...

is used to circumvent this prohibition: appointment to an "

office of profit An office of profit means a position that brings to the person holding it some financial gain, or advantage, or benefit. It may be an office or place of profit if it carries some remuneration, financial advantage, benefit etc. It is a term used in ...

under

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

" disqualifies an individual from sitting as an MP. As such, several such positions are maintained to allow MPs to resign. Currently, the offices of Steward of the Manor of Northstead and

Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds Appointment to the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds is a procedural device to allow Members of Parliament to resignation from the British House of Commons, resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. S ...

are used, and are specifically designated for this purpose under the

House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that prohibits certain categories of people from becoming members of the House of Commons. It is an updated version of similar older acts, known col ...

; several other offices have also been used historically. The appointment is traditionally made by the

chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

. The position was reworked in 1861 by

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

, who was worried about the honour conferred by appointment to people such as Edwin James, who had fled to the United States over £10,000 in debt. As such, the letter by the chancellor was rewritten to omit any references to honour. The office was first used in this way on 20 March 1844 to allow Sir George Henry Rose, MP for , to resign his seat. Appointees to the offices of Steward of the Manor of Northstead and Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds are alternated so that two MPs can resign at once (as happened on 23 January 2017 when

Tristram Hunt Tristram Julian William Hunt, (born 31 May 1974) is a British historian, broadcast journalist and former politician who has been Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum since 2017. He served as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke ...

and Jamie Reed resigned). However, every new appointment revokes the previous one, so there is no difficulty in situations in which more than two resign, such as the 1985 walkout of

Ulster Unionist The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

MPs when several separate appointments were made on a single day. If a resigning MP wishes to contest the following by-election, as

Douglas Carswell John Douglas Wilson Carswell (born 3 May 1971) is a British former politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2005 to 2017, co-founded Vote Leave and currently serves as president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. ...

did in 2014, they need to resign the stewardship to avoid further disqualification. The incumbent steward of the Manor of Northstead is

Kate Green Katherine Anne Green OBE (born 2 May 1960) is a British politician, serving as Greater Manchester's Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime from January 2023. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stretford and Urmston between 2010 and 2022. A me ...

, formerly the Labour MP for Stretford and Urmston.

Key

Up to 1899

Key

Up to 1899

1900 to 1949

1950 to 1999

2000 to present

See also

Office still in use

Offices not in use

References