The Recall of MPs Act 2015 introduced a process for constituents to remove their MP in specific circumstances of serious misconduct. The act created a mechanism for a recall petition, which, if successful, vacates the relevant MP’s seat and triggers a by-election.

This marked a significant constitutional innovation. For the first time, it gave voters the power to remove their elected representative between general elections.

Crucially, the act does not permit a recall for political reasons, such as dissatisfaction with an MP’s voting record or policy positions. The process can only be initiated if one of three strict conditions related to misconduct is met.

The legislation was a key part of the 2010 Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition agreement and was introduced as a response to public demand for greater accountability following the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal.

The three conditions for a recall petition

A recall petition can only be triggered if the speaker of the House of Commons notifies the local returning officer that one of the following conditions has been met.

Conviction for an offence

The MP is convicted in the UK of a criminal offence and receives a custodial sentence (including a suspended sentence). This does not apply to sentences of more than one year, as that leads to automatic disqualification from being an MP under separate legislation. The recall process begins only after any appeals are exhausted.

Suspension from the House

The House of Commons, following a report from its committee on standards, votes to suspend the MP from the service of the House for a specified period of at least 10 sitting days (or at least 14 days if sitting days are not specified).

Conviction for false expenses claims

The MP is convicted of an offence under section 10 of the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 for providing false or misleading information for expenses claims. (This third condition does not require a custodial sentence, only a conviction.)

Once one of the three triggers for misconduct is met, a petition is opened in the constituency for a period of six weeks. Eligible constituents can sign the petition in person at designated locations within the constituency, or they can apply to sign by post or proxy.

If it is signed by 10% of eligible voters, the MP’s seat is declared vacant, and a by-election is called. If the threshold is not met, the petition fails and the MP remains in their seat.

The recalled MP is permitted to stand in the subsequent by-election.

Cases where the act has been used

This process has successfully removed an MP four out of six times.

• Ian Paisley Jr (2018): Triggered by a 30-day suspension. The petition failed, reaching 9.4%, below the 10% threshold. MP not recalled.
• Fiona Onasanya (2019): Triggered by a custodial sentence. The petition succeeded with 27.6% signing. By-election was held on 6 June 2019. Onasanya did not contest the by-election.
• Chris Davies (2019): Triggered by a conviction for false expenses claims. The petition succeeded with 18.9% signing. By-election was held on 1 August 2019. Davies contested the election and lost (to Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds).
• Margaret Ferrier (2023): Triggered by a 30-day suspension. The petition succeeded with 14.7% signing. By-election was held on 5 October 2023. Ferrier did not contest the by-election.
• Peter Bone (2023-24): Triggered by a six-week suspension. The petition succeeded with 13.2% signing. By-election held on 15 February 2024. Bone did not contest the by-election.
• Scott Benton (2024): A petition was triggered by a 35-day suspension, but the MP resigned his seat two weeks into the signing period, terminating the process.

Several MPs have resigned when facing a sanction that would trigger the act’s provisions, namely: Owen Paterson (North Shropshire, 2021), Christian Matheson (City of Chester, 2021), Boris Johnson (Uxbridge and South Ruislip, 2023), Chris Pincher (Tamworth, 2023), and Mike Amesbury (Runcorn and Helsby, 2025).

The case of Boris Johnson

The former prime minister, Boris Johnson, would have been subject to the Act had he not stepped down as an MP before the privileges committee reported on whether he had knowingly misled parliament over Covid-19 lockdown gatherings in Downing Street.

The committee’s inquiry centred on statements Johnson had made to the commons in which he assured MPs that all pandemic rules and guidance had been followed in Downing Street. The inquiry was created after the commons passed a motion tabled by the leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, calling for an investigation on 21 April 2022. At the time, the government under Johnson as prime minister supported that motion.

On 9 June 2023, Johnson announced his resignation as an MP after receiving a draft of the committee’s final report. In a statement, the former prime minister Johnson branded the committee a “kangaroo court” and claimed its year-long inquiry had delivered “what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination”.

The 106-page final report of the privileges committee, published a week later on 15 June 2023, found that Johnson committed “repeated contempts of parliament”.

The committee’s report stated that, had Johnson remained an MP, it would have recommended that he be suspended from the House of Commons for 90 days. This proposal, subject to approval by a vote of the commons, would have triggered a recall petition in Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

The report read: “Although Mr Johnson’s resignation as an MP renders it impossible for a sanction of suspension to be imposed, we draw attention to the fact that before the events of Friday 9 June we had provisionally agreed to recommend a suspension long enough to engage the provisions of the Recall of MPs Act.

“In the light of Mr Johnson’s further contempts, we put on record that if he had not resigned his seat, we would have recommended that he be suspended from the service of the House for 90 days for repeated contempts and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process”.

On 19 June 2023, the House of Commons voted 354 to 7 in support of the report, with a large number of abstentions. Rishi Sunak, the serving prime minister, was among those who abstained. The then-PM maintained that he had other commitments.

The recall of Peter Bone (2023-24)

The recall of Peter Bone began following a complaint made via parliament’s independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS). The ICGS investigation began in September 2022, leading to an investigation and a report by the Independent Expert Panel (IEP).

The report, which was published on 16 October 2023, sustained findings of five acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct committed against a staff member between 2012 and 2013. The IEP report described the case as a “deliberate and conscious abuse of power” and recommended a six-week suspension from the House of Commons.

The IEP report found: “This is a serious case of misconduct… The bullying involved violence, shouting and swearing, mocking, belittling and humiliating behaviour, and ostracism…

“This wilful pattern of bullying also included an unwanted incident of sexual misconduct, when the complainant was trapped in a room with the respondent in a hotel in Madrid… This was a deliberate and conscious abuse of power using a sexual mechanism: indecent exposure.”

On 25 October 2023, MPs voted to approve the findings of the report and the recommended six-week suspension. As the suspension exceeded the 10-sitting-day threshold, this automatically triggered the recall mechanism under the 2015 act. Bone had the Conservative whip withdrawn on 17 October and subsequently sat as an independent.

The petition officer for Wellingborough opened the recall petition on 8 November 2023, with the signing period lasting six weeks until 19 December 2023. To be successful, the petition required the signatures of 10% of the eligible electorate.

On 19 December, the results were announced. From an electorate of 79,402, a total of 10,505 constituents validly signed the petition. This figure, representing 13.2% of the electorate, comfortably surpassed the required threshold, and Bone was immediately removed from his seat.

On 8 January 2024, the House of Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, told MPs: “I have received a notification from the petition officer for the constituency of Wellingborough in respect of the recall petition for Peter Bone.

“The recall petition closed on Tuesday 19 December. As more than 10% of those eligible to sign the petition did so, the petition was successful and the seat is accordingly vacant. I shall cause the text of the notification to be published in the votes and proceedings and in the official report.”

The successful recall mandated a by-election to fill the vacant Wellingborough seat, which was held on 15 February.

The Labour Party candidate, Gen Kitchen, won the seat with 13,844 votes. The Conservative candidate, Helen Harrison, Peter Bone’s partner, came second with 7,408 votes. Kitchen thereby overturned a Conservative majority of 18,540, recorded at the 2019 general election. The result represented a swing of 28.5% from the Conservatives to Labour, the second-largest such swing since the Second World War.

Additional resources

• Recall of MPs Act 2015 (Legislation.gov.uk): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/25/contents
• Electoral Commission – Recall Petitions: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/how-elections-work/types-elections/recall-petitions
• House of Commons Library – Recall elections: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05089/