 On 23 October 1963 , four days after becoming Prime Minister , Home disclaimed his earldom and associated lesser peerages . Having been made a knight of the Order of the Thistle in 1962 , he was known after stepping down from the Lords as Sir Alec Douglas @-@ Home . The safe Unionist seat of Kinross and West Perthshire was vacant , and Douglas @-@ Home was adopted as his party 's candidate . Parliament was due to meet on 24 October after the summer recess , but its return was postponed until 12 November pending the by @-@ election . For twenty days Douglas @-@ Home was Prime Minister while a member of neither house of Parliament , a situation without modern precedent . He won the by @-@ election with a majority of 9 @,@ 328 ; the Liberal candidate was in second place and Labour in third . 
