Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham | |
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since 8 January 2024 | |
Appointer | Chancellor of the Exchequer |
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]