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 an 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.