‘Bullying by Keith Vaz led Commons clerk to quit’
KeitH Vaz relentlessly bullied a clerk after she blew the whistle on his alleged ‘opulent’ dining with mystery men on a trip to Ukraine, it was claimed last night.
On another taxpayer-funded trip, the labour MP invited a group of curry restaurateur lobbyists, an investigation by the BBc’s newsnight alleged.
When House of commons clerk Jenny Mccullough complained, she claimed Mr Vaz responded by ‘haranguing’ her about her fertility status, the BBc said.
She later quit her job – blaming the stress caused by the confrontations and the failure of commons authorities to take her complaints seriously. last night leicester east MP Mr Vaz, 61, strenuously denied the accusations.
they relate to 2007 and 2008 when he was chairman of the Home Affairs Select committee. He stood down in 2016 when a newspaper sting exposed his liaison with male prostitutes, during which he discussed buying cocaine.
A parliamentary investigation is still ongoing, although it was suspended last Decemwith ber ‘for medical reasons’.
Miss Mccullough was one of the committee’s clerks, and accompanied the MPs on a trip to russia and Ukraine in 2008. Part of her role was to enforce rules intended to stop MPs turning official visits into holidays or business trips.
Miss Mccullough, who quit in 2011, told newsnight a dinner in Kiev arranged by Mr Vaz was ‘large’ and ‘opulent’ and attended by mystery guests.
She later emailed her manager saying: ‘the chairman [Mr Vaz] refused to tell me who we would be meeting ... beyond ivan, a friend of his who was ... a “senator”. i have absolutely no idea who the other people there were – when i asked during the dinner the chairman told me that He didn’t know ... We didn’t pay – i didn’t know who did.’
Miss Mccullough claimed that when she complained, Mr Vaz launched into a ‘tirade’ against her in a hotel lobby.
She wrote: ‘He then demanded to know what age i was. He told me that i didn’t know how the House worked and ... that i wasn’t capable of serving the committee because i wasn’t a mother.’ newsnight claimed Miss Mccullough’s colleagues recalled Mr Vaz’s criticism as ‘unrelenting and personal’, and other staff had complained of bullying by the MP.
Mr Vaz denied ‘all the allegations made against me’, saying he had ‘only now ... been properly appraised of some of the particulars’. He said he had a ‘good working relationship’
‘Unrelenting and personal’
Miss Mccullough, adding: ‘i did not berate Ms Mccullough at any stage, nor did i ... insult her maternal status.’
His representative said the other people were Ukrainian parliamentarians present for ‘an informal discussion on organised crime and immigration’. they insisted no rules were broken and ‘clerks were fully aware of the ... programme and how it was financed.’ newsnight claimed there were several other trips ‘ where there were major deviations from the normal processes’, including the presence of restauranter lobbyists on a committee visit to india and Bangladesh in 2008.
Mr Vaz said he ‘cannot recall’ if any British Asian restauranteurs joined the flight but ‘would not be surprised’ as the committee’s remit included considering ‘facilitating entry into the UK for individuals in the catering industry’. He said no protocols were broken.
the House of commons said that while it had not had a ‘robust process’ to deal with bullying in the past, its new ‘independent complaints and Grievance Policy will mean allegations can be dealt with effectively and sensitively’.