Vaz ‘bullied clerk’ on trip to Ukraine

KEITH VAZ is facing allegations that he used an official parliamentary trip for an “opulent” unscheduled dinner with Ukrainian politicians and then bullied a member of parliamentary staff who raised concerns.

The Labour MP arranged the dinner during an official trip to Ukraine in 2008 by members of the home affairs select committee, which he chaired at the time. He stepped down from the committee in 2016 after reports he had hired male escorts.

Jenny Mccullough, who served as a Commons clerk between 2002 and 2011 and attended on the trip, told BBC Two’s Newsnight that she had “no idea” who the hosts were or who paid for the meal in Kiev.

She said that after she raised concerns, she was subjected to a “tirade” from Mr Vaz in a hotel lobby.

“He told me that I wasn’t capable of serving the committee because I wasn’t a mother.

“All I knew was it wasn’t normal to be harangued about my fertility status in the reception of a hotel room, at public expense, in front of my colleague on the team.”

She alleged that Mr Vaz subsequently subjected her to continued personal criticism and made jokes about whether she posed a security threat because of her Northern Irish background and accent.

Ms Mccullough said that she was “afraid” to complain while she was employed by the House because Mr Vaz “had a lot of influence” and “it could only end badly for me”.

A spokesman for Mr Vaz strongly denied the claims, saying: “[Mr Vaz] did not berate Ms Mccullough at any stage whether before, during or after the Russia trip, nor did he at any time insult her maternal status.

“Furthermore, our client finds the allegation that he would make insulting jokes about anyone on the basis of race extremely offensive [and] would never trivialise a person’s ethnic background.”

The spokesman said that those present at the dinner were members of the Ukraine parliament and that they discussed “organised crime and immigration challenges”.

He said: “The committee was not hosting the dinner: the hospitality did not need to be declared under the applicable rules and there was no rule broken.”

The rules for overseas trips by MPS demand that they arrange an itinerary before leaving that can be signed off and that hospitality is either arranged by the committee as part of the programme or declared appropriately. Mr Vaz also brought a member of his own staff on the trip. Ms Mccullough said she reminded Mr Vaz that outsiders were not permitted to take part in committee events arranged for the benefit of MPS.

Last night, Mr Vaz issued a statement saying he found the allegations made by Ms Mccullough “insulting and appalling”.

He insisted that the Kiev dinner had been approved by the committee prior to departure and also signed off by the chairman of the liaison committee.

“It is entirely false and misconceived to allege that any House rules or protocol were broken during this visit,” he said.