Impeachment in the United Kingdom

Impeachment is a process in which the Parliament of the United Kingdom may prosecute and try individuals, normally holders of public office, for high treason or other crimes and misdemeanours.

The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (such as the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility and recalling MPs) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.

[1] This is in contrast to other countries, most notably the United States, where impeachment developed into a means to try officeholders for various misdeeds and has become a common process to the present day.

Offices held "during good behaviour" are terminable by the writ of either quo warranto (e.g. R v Richardson) or scire facias, which has even been employed by and against well-placed judges.

[9] After the reign of Edward IV, impeachment fell into disuse, the bill of attainder becoming the preferred form of dealing with undesirable subjects of the Crown.

The last attempted impeachment occurred in 1848, when David Urquhart accused Lord Palmerston of having signed a secret treaty with Imperial Russia and of receiving money from the Tsar.

In addition to the power of impeachment, the House of Commons claims the right to discipline offenders, both members and non-members, a right that has been accepted by the courts.

[10] John Junor, editor of The Sunday Express, was admonished in 1957 for an article which cast doubt on the honour and integrity of Members; he apologised and no further action was taken.

However, it is argued by some that the remedy of impeachment remains as part of British constitutional law, and that legislation would be required to abolish it.

On 25 August 2004, Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price announced his intention to move for the impeachment of Tony Blair for his role in involving Britain in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Hain responded by quoting the 1999 Joint Committee's report, and the advice of the Clerk of the House of Commons that impeachment "effectively died with the advent of full responsible parliamentary government".

[15] On 29 September 2019, the Sunday Times reported that opposition politicians in the House of Commons were considering impeachment proceedings against the prime minister, Boris Johnson, "on charges of gross misconduct in relation to the unlawful prorogation of parliament", as well as his threat to break the law by failing to comply with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.