# David Cameron has resigned his seat as an MP **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 12, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769 "2016-09-12T17:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/1 "2016-09-12T17:57:12Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/12/europe/david-cameron-resigns/index.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David\_Cameron](http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/12/europe/david-cameron-resigns/index.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cameron) Can’t say I’m surprised. Returning to the backbenches after being PM can’t be easy, although others have done it before him. Given the Brexit vote, I suspect history will not be kind to him. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/2 "2016-09-12T18:28:35Z")
Begone scum - first reaction from his own side: [Cameron resigns, again. Breaks his word, again. Trashes his reputation, again](http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/09/cameron-resigns-breaks-word-trashes-reputation/) Too much money to be made talking more shite. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/3 "2016-09-12T19:01:07Z")
It would be difficult returning to the role of a typical MP. Cameron’s statements would get far too much attention. Distract from the new PM. He can’t do the job if he can’t forcefully advocate for his district’s interests. Private opportunities probably played a part too. Book deal, speaking fees. He’s got a family to support. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/4 "2016-09-12T20:54:15Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It would be difficult returning to the role of a typical MP. Cameron’s statements would get far too much attention. Distract from the new PM. > > He can’t do the job if he can’t forcefully advocate for his district’s interests. > > Private opportunities probably played a part too. Book deal, speaking fees. He’s got a family to support. No, it’s normal. As the link suggests. Not enough money in it though, for this slime ball: > [@](#): > > And today, he has handed a gift to those who denounced him as a career politician, someone with no sense of public service, whose interest in politics ran out when he thought it could no longer be useful to him. “Brits don’t quit,” he told us a few months ago: now he has quit, twice. After telling us several times that he’d stay, to fulfil a duty to parliament and his constituents. Even Gordon Brown fought another election after leaving No10 but Cameron has bolted, saying he has now decided that he’d be a “distraction”. His critics will argue the real “distraction” is that which parliament poses to a career on the Kazakhstani advisory circuit. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/5 "2016-09-12T22:00:03Z")
I was surprised he didn’t resign as an MP the same time he resigned as Prime Minister. Now he can get the really big bucks in business. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/6 "2016-09-13T01:33:13Z")
As a matter of routine, Cameron will be offered a seat in the Lords. All ex-PMs are offered this. So he can continue a (low-key) parliamentary career if he wishes to. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/7 "2016-09-13T03:03:15Z")
Is that still the case? IIRC the last PM to be given a (life) peerage was Margaret Thatcher. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/8 "2016-09-13T03:27:19Z")
Technically, Cameron didn’t resign his seat, since that’s not possible for a British MP. Rather, he accepted an office of profit from the Crown, likely the Warden of the Chiltern Hundreds, which results in his seat in the Commons being vacated by the operation of law. A fine distinction, of course. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/9 "2016-09-13T03:28:21Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Is that still the case? IIRC the last PM to be given a (life) peerage was Margaret Thatcher. [Tony Blair](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1505504/No-peerage-for-me-its-not-my-scene-says-Blair.html)announced ahead of time that he would turn one down. So did [John Major](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/former-prime-minister-john-major-rules-out-early-entry-to-the-lords-634554.html), and [Gordon Brown](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3132180/Labour-grandee-Jack-Straw-denied-peerage-lobbying-sting-saw-boast-political-connections.html) is rumored to have been offered and declined one as well. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/10 "2016-09-13T03:34:46Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Technically, Cameron didn’t resign his seat, since that’s not possible for a British MP. > > Rather, he accepted an office of profit from the Crown, likely the Warden of the Chiltern Hundreds, which results in his seat in the Commons being vacated by the operation of law. > > A fine distinction, of course. 😉 The National Scot is reporting it was [indeed the Chiltern Hundreds](http://www.thenational.scot/politics/analysis-david-cameron-exits-the-commons-leaving-chaos-in-his-wake.22318). ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/11 "2016-09-13T03:35:23Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Is that still the case? IIRC the last PM to be given a (life) peerage was Margaret Thatcher. She was the last to _accept_ it. I think they are all offered it, when they retire from the Commons. Major turned down a peerage but accepted a knighthood; Blair turned both down. Brown only stood down from Parliament last year. I assume that he was offered a peerage in the 2015 dissolution honours, but I can’t find any confirmation that he was. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/12 "2016-09-13T07:47:02Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Brown only stood down from Parliament last year. I assume that he was offered a peerage in the 2015 dissolution honours, but I can’t find any confirmation that he was. You wouldn’t, unless either he or the Palace “let it be known”. When it comes to ex-Prime Ministers, I rather think it’s up to herself, or at least, she wouldn’t expect to wait for a formal recommendation from the new PM. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-cameron-has-resigned-his-seat-as-an-mp/765769/13 "2016-09-13T08:00:15Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > You wouldn’t, unless either he or the Palace “let it be known”. When it comes to ex-Prime Ministers, I rather think it’s up to herself, or at least, she wouldn’t expect to wait for a formal recommendation from the new PM. No. Political honours (and all offers of a life peerage are very much political honours, as are all offers of anything at all to an ex-PM) are very much a matter on which the Queen acts strictly on the advice of her ministers.