Portrait of an MP who says he’s too ill to be investigated over party with male escorts
Labour veteran is fit enough to travel the world and cut ribbons
FOR an MP claiming to be too ill to attend a parliamentary inquiry, Keith Vaz has been a busy man.
The investigation into the Labour veteran’s involvement with Romanian male prostitutes was suspended in December ‘for medical reasons’.
But it appears that, despite his health problems, Mr Vaz, 61, has since been able to take part in a number of engagements – including travelling nearly 5,000 miles to India, and taking a trip to Saudi Arabia.
The Leicester East MP has opened a new swimming pool in the city, attended planning meetings and met a housing developer, while he was even allegedly spotted at a music gig. Now the parlia- mentary standards watchdog is facing calls to reopen its inquiry into Mr Vaz.
North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen, who instigated the original complaint in September 2016, said Mr Vaz appeared in ‘fine fettle’.
Tory Mr Bridgen said his office had compiled a dossier on Mr Vaz’s appearances that it would be passing to the standards commissioner.
Married Mr Vaz, who has two children, apologised to his family and quit as chairman of the Commons home affairs committee in 2016 after his involvement with male prostitutes was revealed.
He also discussed class-A drugs, with undercover film footage obtained by the Sunday Mirror showing him telling one of the rent boys he would pay for cocaine, but did not want to take it himself.
And text messages allegedly showed him asking the escorts to bring poppers – sex-enhancing drugs – with them to the North London flat he owns. In December 2016, Scotland Yard dropped an investigation into Mr Vaz over the allegations.
A separate probe by the Commons sleaze watchdog was due to look at whether Mr Vaz was guilty of a conflict of interest as he had been leading a review of vice laws at the time of the allegations.
It was also examining whether the former Europe minister had caused ‘significant damage’ to Parliament’s reputation. But in December, then-standards commissioner Kathryn Hudson cited medical reasons when she suspended the investigation.
That month, Mr Vaz reportedly went on a trip Saudi Arabia, while last month he posted a picture of himself in Goa, India.
Just last Saturday he was photographed cutting a ribbon at the Cossington Street Pool in Belgrave, Leicester.
In the Commons, Mr Vaz has tabled a number of written questions, including on energy drinks and school meals. And on January 10 he was photographed alongside Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Bridgen said: ‘He is supposedly unfit to answer questions about his conduct in relation to rent boys and cocaine, but he appears to be out and about in Leicester and elsewhere. He is the most healthy-looking “ill” person I’ve ever seen.
‘At the end of the day if he’s unfit to be held to the standards of an MP then he’s not fit to be an MP. The parliamentary standards watchdog says she has independent medical advice to say that he cannot face questions. But he looks surprisingly well to me.’
The standards commissioner’s office said: ‘When she has fresh independent medical advice, the commissioner will review it.’ Mr Vaz’s office did not respond to request for a comment.
In March 2001, when Mr Vaz faced another conduct inquiry, he went on extended sick leave after collapsing during a TV interview. He later quit as Tony Blair’s Europe minister but was cleared of failing to declare cash to watchdogs.
‘Looks surprisingly well to me’