Who is Keith Vaz? Slippery MP smeared with 30 years of sleaze – from expenses scandals to poppers and sex with male prostitutes
Throughout his 29-year political career the veteran MP has been caught up in sleaze and cash scandals
SCANDAL-plagued Keith Vaz has survived so many that he is dubbed Mr Vazeline in Westminster.
The slippery Labour veteran, 59, has been repeatedly investigated over his conduct.
The most notorious probe was in 2001 after two Indian billionaires applied for British passports.
He intervened on their behalf and it later emerged the pair had paid £1,200 to a company run by his wife Maria.
The MP quit as Tony Blair’s Minister for Europe at the height of the row but was cleared of failing to declare the cash to watchdogs.
Eight years later he was engulfed in the MPs’ expenses scandal.
But again he emerged unscathed.
Last night he was hoping to perform the greatest Houdini act of his 29-year political career following the sex and drugs revelations involving two male prostitutes.
He remained determined to cling on as chairman of the powerful Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. A source said: “Keith won’t resign over this.
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“He thinks he can step aside from his chairmanship for a few weeks and come back. He’s got out of all his other scrapes before and this time it’s no different.”
The source explained: “Throughout his career he has caused and courted controversy.
“But he’s such an important figure for Labour and its Asian supporters that he is constantly backed by them and the party.”
Mr Vaz continues to have a huge Asian fanbase in his Leicester East constituency, where he was first elected MP in 1987.
He was previously a council solicitor in London.
In 1989 he led a march calling for Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses to be banned.
He told a rally of 3,000 Muslims the event was “one of the great days in the history of Islam and Great Britain”.
Months later he caused outrage after the IRA bombed an Army recruiting centre in Leicester when he suggested the troops planted the device themselves.
In 2000 he was quizzed over whether he had taken undeclared payments from a solicitor.
The MP stalled the investigation for months, refusing to answer questions or hand over information. He was eventually found to have failed to register two payments worth a total of £4,500.
The following year saw the investigation into the passport applications by the Hinduja brothers.
Although the MP was cleared of trying to hide the £1,200 paid to his wife’s firm, the couple were found to have provided misleading information to the inquiry.
When he stepped down as Europe Minister he claimed it was for “health reasons”.
In 2002, Mr Vaz was suspended from the House of Commons for a month for false allegations against an ex-policewoman.
He had accused her of making damaging claims against him, including employing an illegal immigrant as a nanny.
The MP told police she phoned his mother to intimidate her.
The Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges ruled she made no such call.
In 2008, Mr Vaz came under pressure to explain why he failed to declare an interest when he intervened in an official investigation into the business dealings of a solicitor who was a close friend.
When the expenses scandal exploded in 2009 it emerged Mr Vaz spent £75,500 on his Westminster flat.
It included a monthly £200 for “repairs”, “services” or “maintenance” — all made without receipts.
He had also lavishly kitted out his second home. Twenty-two silk cushions from John Lewis cost £480.
He also claimed £2,614 for a pair of John Lewis leather armchairs, which came with a foot stool, £1,000 on a dining table and leather chairs and £150 on a lamp and shade.
The MP’s £1.5million family home was just 12 miles from Parliament in Stanmore, 37 minutes by Tube.
His spokesman insisted at the time: “Stanmore is not central London. Like many MPs, he has a flat in central London that is close to the House of Commons.”
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In 2014 Mr Vaz courted further controversy when he greeted the first flight from Bucharest at Luton airport on the day Britain’s borders had to be thrown open to Romanians and Bulgarians.
He later went on to invite comedian Russell Brand to speak at the Home Affairs Select Committee, knowing his views would generate headlines.
Recently the MP has worked on a report into prostitution which called for the decriminalisation of sex workers.
In November 2014 he was one of a number of MPs who called for buying sex to be made a crime — in a bid to stop women being trafficked into the sex trade.
Last night Tories were calling for a fresh probe into a stunning election result this year that saw a close ally of the MP storm to victory as Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner.
Willy Bach, who along with Vaz was a pal of Lord Janner, admitted he was surprised to win by 20,000 votes, buoyed by an avalanche of postal ballots.
PROBES A-PLENTY
2000: Allegations Vaz took cash from solicitor.
2001: Billionaire brothers paid for visas.
2002: Suspended from parliament for a month.
2009: Expenses scandal.
2010: Campaigns to curb cocaine trade.
2016: Fights ban on sex-drug poppers.