Northstead

While no longer having any actual role or responsibility, it remains a nominal paid office of the Crown, a sort of sinecure, appointment to which is one of the things that by law disqualifies an MP from the House.

[5] Although several such offices have been used for this purpose in the past, in the present day only two are used: the Northstead post and that of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham.

One of the most recent MPs to be appointed to the Northstead office was former Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced his decision to resign from his parliamentary seat of Witney on 12 September 2016.

[8] Sinn Féin MP Gerry Adams was appointed to the post after announcing his intention to resign from the UK Parliament to stand in the 2011 Irish general election.

[9][10] Adams denied that he had accepted the appointment, which would conflict with Sinn Féin's longstanding policy of refusing to pledge allegiance to the British Crown.