Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2012 8:50:27 GMT
Those of us, in all parties who have got to the point of candidacy (let alone election)by the hard route of cold nights on the doorstep, wet afternoons delivering increasingly soggy leaflets, ill attended meeting with the terminally belligerent and dissatisfied, will probably have a more realistic view than someone who has been plucked from another walk of life and dropped into the rather special environment that is electoral politics This. |
|
|
|
Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Aug 7, 2012 9:05:58 GMT
Sheila Wright, Birmingham Handsworth 1979-83? Possibly boundary changes played a part, as also in the case of Andy McMahon in the same Parliament. Tess Kingham and Jenny Jones in the 1997-2001 Parliament are clearer examples. No because he unsuccessfully sought re-election (albeit in a different constituency). |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2012 13:07:39 GMT
While not a Westminster politician, Ian Welsh resigned as the Labour MSP for Ayr after only seven months in the role (6th May 1999 to 21st December 1999). He won the constituency by only 25 votes, making it the most marginal in the country, and the Tories won the subsequent by-election. The accepted wisdom is that he resigned as he didn't fancy the life of a backbencher after being passed over for a ministerial position.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pete Whitehead on Aug 7, 2012 13:25:27 GMT
Well I'm sure at sub-Westminster level we can find all kinds of examples. Wasn't there a coucnillor in Preston or somewhere who resigned within two weeks of being elected?  |
|
|
|
Post by AdminSTB on Aug 7, 2012 15:50:47 GMT
The last case of a sitting MP voluntarily standing down in the middle of their first Parliament would appear to be Malcolm St Clair, although his is a somewhat special case given that he was declared elected on petition through disqualification of his only opponent. There were of course also the multiple resignations by Northern Irish Unionist MPs in 1986, including a few first elected in 1983, though I can understand if you don't count those given they all subsequently re-contested their seats... |
|
|
|
Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Aug 7, 2012 15:54:37 GMT
The last case of a sitting MP voluntarily standing down in the middle of their first Parliament would appear to be Malcolm St Clair, although his is a somewhat special case given that he was declared elected on petition through disqualification of his only opponent. There were of course also the multiple resignations by Northern Irish Unionist MPs in 1986, including a few first elected in 1983, though I can understand if you don't count those given they all subsequently re-contested their seats... They weren't standing down. They were seeking re-election. I think the defining characteristic must be that the MP, of their own volition, resigns in order to end their Parliamentary career at least for the moment. That excludes St Clair who resigned as a question of principle when his once-disqualified opponent became eligible for election again; St Clair might have sought to continue in politics. |
|
Pimpernal
Forum Regular
A left-wing agenda within a right-wing framework...
Posts: 2,873 
|
Post by Pimpernal on Aug 7, 2012 16:50:36 GMT
Well I'm sure at sub-Westminster level we can find all kinds of examples. Wasn't there a coucnillor in Preston or somewhere who resigned within two weeks of being elected? really?  Do tell! There was that idiot in River Ward, Medway who resigned because he thought he wasn't eligible about a week after being elected - and then found out he was eligible a week later when the bye-election had already been called  |
|
|
|
Post by erlend on Aug 7, 2012 17:41:22 GMT
The Chief Constable should have been up on a charge after that.
|
|
|
|
Post by comicbookguy on Aug 7, 2012 22:04:28 GMT
Anything below an 8% swing will be disappointing for Labour, imo.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andrew_S on Aug 8, 2012 22:40:42 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by greatkingrat on Aug 8, 2012 23:06:43 GMT
Officially, she hasn't resigned yet.
|
|
|
|
Post by timrollpickering on Aug 8, 2012 23:36:05 GMT
Paging David Boothroyd and anyone else who knows...
What's the earliest the writ can be moved for a Steward by-election?
|
|
john07
Labour & Co-operative
Posts: 15,774
|
Post by john07 on Aug 8, 2012 23:45:43 GMT
Officially, she hasn't resigned yet. Neither did Gerry Adams! |
|
|
|
Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Aug 8, 2012 23:55:03 GMT
Paging David Boothroyd and anyone else who knows... What's the earliest the writ can be moved for a Steward by-election? Can't be done in recess, so if she resigned later today the earliest date for moving the writ would be 3 September (when the House of Commons is back from recess). That would mean polling day Thursday 27 September (just after the end of Liberal Democrat conference, just before the Labour Party conference). |
|
|
|
Post by timrollpickering on Aug 9, 2012 0:57:51 GMT
Thanks. On a more obscure point, can the Chancellor refuse to appoint a Steward if they so choose?
|
|
|
|
Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Aug 9, 2012 8:13:12 GMT
Thanks. On a more obscure point, can the Chancellor refuse to appoint a Steward if they so choose? In practice, no. There were cases in the 19th century of refusal of the Chiltern Hundreds but that was because the appointment was always referred to as an honour, so it was inappropriate for someone giving up their seat in disgrace. In 1893-94 there was a Select Committee investigation into the Chiltern Hundreds which decided that the Chancellor should refuse to appoint an MP if the House ordered him to or if the MP were awaiting censure by the House, but never otherwise. |
|
|
|
Post by LDCaerdydd on Aug 9, 2012 9:26:43 GMT
As I recall in 2004 the Hartlepool by election was in recess as was the Livingstone in 2005 one when Robin Cook died.
How are the disqualification (rather than resignation) and death of an MP treated differently to the four pending by elections?
Or have I got my facts totally wrong about Parliament and recess?
|
|
Richard Allen
Banned
Four time loser in VUKPOTY finals
Posts: 19,052
|
Post by Richard Allen on Aug 9, 2012 9:44:55 GMT
Paging David Boothroyd and anyone else who knows... What's the earliest the writ can be moved for a Steward by-election? Can't be done in recess, so if she resigned later today the earliest date for moving the writ would be 3 September (when the House of Commons is back from recess). That would mean polling day Thursday 27 September (just after the end of Liberal Democrat conference, just before the Labour Party conference). I will of course bow to your superior knowledge on these matters but ISTR reading that there are circumstances where the Speaker can move the writ during a recess. |
|
|
|
Post by greatkingrat on Aug 9, 2012 9:58:49 GMT
Officially, she hasn't resigned yet. Neither did Gerry Adams! That reminds me, Martin McGuinness announced his resignation a couple of months ago but nothing seems to have happened yet. |
|
|
|
Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Aug 9, 2012 10:05:12 GMT
As I recall in 2004 the Hartlepool by election was in recess as was the Livingstone in 2005 one when Robin Cook died. The Hartlepool vacancy was indeed caused by appointment to a Stewardship; the writ was moved in the House on 9 September 2004 during the September session. The Livingston vacancy was caused by death and so the provisions of the Recess Elections Act 1975 could be used. It is the most recent case of a writ being moved in the recess. See the London Gazette containing the notice. The Recess Elections Act prevents the Speaker issuing a byelection writ for a vacancy caused by resignation. To get round this provision in 1999 in Hamilton South the sitting Member George Robertson (who was resigning to become Secretary-General of NATO) was made a Peer, so that the writ could be moved without delay. A writ can be moved in the recess to replace a Member who was appointed to a disqualifying office other than a Stewardship. However the last case of any MP being appointed to a different disqualifying office was in 1981. |
|
