To be fair, many don’t share TheEye’s morbid fascination with the intricacies of constitutional procedure. However there are times when, out of little things, a bit of history is made. And things…change.

And so it has just occurred. Or may do so.

If you want to stop being an MP there aren’t many ways to do it. Death is a fairly obvious one. Even faked death, as the only UK Minister confirmed to have been a Soviet spy John Stonehouse tried. Being locked up for a year is another way, and a few Labour MPs are currently exploring this method. The only other way is to take a paid office working for the Crown, and for this two jobs (Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, and of the Manor of Northstead) are used.

Terrorist and all-round scum Gerry Adams is therefore in a bit of a spot. He intends to stand for the Irish Parliament but is stuck with his day job of claiming expenses as the unseated MP for West Belfast. But as head of the Shinners he can’t be seen asking the Chancellor of the Exchequer (for it is he) for a job. Oh dear.

So he has tried to wing it. A Sinn Fein spokesman told Newsnight that Adams “wrote to the Speaker’s office on Friday and informed him of his resignation. It’s a non-issue from our perspective. He submitted his resignation and that’s it. He’s stepped down from that position. He certainly didn’t apply for the Stewardship of the Manor of Northstead.“

Except you can’t just do that. It doesn’t work.

From the Parliamentary bible Erskine May:

“It is a settled principle of parliamentary law that a Member, after he is duly chosen, cannot relinquish his seat; and, in order to evade this restriction, a Member who wishes to retire accepts office under the Crown, which legally vacates his seat and obliges the House to order a new writ.”

If it has been accepted (and HoC officials are denying it) then the constitution has just been altered to keep the bearded terrorist and his band of brutal thugs happy. If it hasn’t and he just walks away then he’ll technically stay an MP for the next 4 years. Either way, of course, he’ll get a gold plated pension courtesy of John Q Taxpayer.

The only realistic way that Adams might get round this without expressing allegiance to the British Crown in any form would be to turn up at the House of Commons and try to sit in the Chamber. He would then be automatically disqualified from the House on the grounds that he hasn’t sworn the oath, and a writ would then be moved for a by-election in West Belfast. This last happened in 1924.

If he tried that then the drama of watching him being ejected from the Commons would be unmissable television. Fetch the beer and popcorn.