the Chiltern Hundreds
/ðə ˌtʃɪltən ˈhʌndrədz/
/ðə ˌtʃɪltərn ˈhʌndrədz/
- an administrative region that used to exist in Buckinghamshire. British Members of Parliament are not allowed to leave their job during the course of a Parliament, but the person with the traditional job of looking after the Chiltern Hundreds is not allowed to be a Member of Parliament, so any MP who wishes to leave can apply for the Chiltern Hundreds as a way of leaving parliament. A hundred was, in the past, a division of a county in England, so called because it contained around one hundred families.
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the Chiltern Hundreds