During the Ditchley gathering, a "syndicate" led by Hazell discussed what were the correct constitutional procedures for forming a new government in the event of a hung parliament.

In January 2010, the Ministry of Justice sponsored another country house conference on constitutional issues, this time at Wilton Park in Sussex. 

On February 16, the Cabinet Secretary finalised the proposals for handling a political transition after a hung election at a sandwich lunch with the inner core of favoured academic experts: Hazell, Bogdanor, Peter Hennessy, professor of contemporary British history at Queen Mary, University of London, and Rodney Brazier, professor of constitutional law at Manchester University.

Though the group purported to base their findings on precedent, their proposals put a novel spin on existing constitutional conventions which effectively made it harder for the Conservatives to take office if they failed to win an outright majority of seats in the coming general election. 

The next step was to arrange a rapid meeting before a select committee of the House of Commons to advertise and legitimate their proposed scheme. The senior Liberal Democrat, Alan Beith, agreed to a hearing the following week before the Justice Committee, which he chaired. The normal procedure for evidence before a select committee was abandoned. There was no time to recruit evidence from academics who were not part of O'Donnell's team or who were likely to present contrary opinions. Inevitably, the session held on February 24 was completely one-sided.