Prime minister to then, it was the "entire" government that made the request. Similarly, though the modern 1937 Irish constitution grants to the Taoiseach the right to make the request, the earlier 1922 Irish Free State Constitution vested the power in the "Executive Council" (the then name for the Irish cabinet). In Australia, the Prime Minister is expected to step down if s/he loses the majority support of his/her party under a spill motion as have many such as Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull. In the Russian constitution the prime minister is actually titled "Chairman of the government"
Julia Gillard conclusion of a criminal investigation. After a week of controversy, Gillard announced that she was asking Slipper to delay his return to the Chair pending the conclusion of concurrent civil proceedings, in an effort to dispel what she described as a "dark cloud" over her government (a reference also to the ongoing Craig Thomson affair involving a Labor MP linked to corruption allegations). In the light of poor polling results for the Gillard Government, speculation that Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wished to challenge Gillard for the leadership culminated with Rudd resigning from the Cabinet on 22