Sir Peter Soulsby is yet to resign as MP, however the process to select a replacement is well underway and talk over at Labour List suggests that Jon Ashworth may have surged into the lead.

MPs can’t, of course, resign by law. Instead the legal fiction of appointing them to an office of the Crown is used, disqualifying them from continuing to hold office in the Commons.

In a discussion with Peter yesterday he confirmed that he had not yet resigned, adding that he wasn’t quite sure how the procedure worked for him to become the nominal Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, for example. I wasn’t sure either.

I mischievously pointed out that he’d take over from expense fiddler Eric Illsley if given that position.

Peter scoffed at the thought but rightly pointed out that the token Crown positions are given out on a rotation basis, and that he could be made the Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead instead.

He’s correct. Presuming he’s the next MP to resign from Parliament he’ll technically be in charge of a bit of seaside town Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

And it turns out he’ll take over the role from, er, Sinn Fein man Gerry Adams, who quit Parliament earlier this year.

Suddenly taking over from an expenses crook doesn’t sound so bad, after all.

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