Who is Keith Vaz and why is he standing down in the General Election?
LABOUR MP Keith Vaz faces a six-month suspension from the House of Commons.
The longest-serving British Asian MP, has been accused of a "very serious breach" of the House code of conduct...
Who is Keith Vaz?
Keith Vaz became the MP for Leicester East in 1987.
He was born Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz on November 26, 1956.
Vaz moves from Goa, to Twickenham with his family in 1965.
His dad was previously a correspondent for The Times of India, before moving to the airline industry.
His mum held two jobs, as a teacher and a worker for Marks & Spencer.
Vaz attended Cambridge University' Gonville and Caius College, where he studied law, and graduated with a 1st class Honours in 1979.
The MP has two sisters, Valerie, born 1954, and Penny McConnell.
Penny is a solicitor, and Valerie, has been the MP for Walsall South since 2010.
Vaz lives in London with his wife Maria Fernandez, and their son and daughter.
What has he been accused of?
The MP was previously the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee.
But he resigned after he had met two men in his London flat to engage in paid-for sex.
In the course of the encounter - which was covertly audio-recorded by one of the men - Mr Vaz was said to have offered to buy illegal drugs for a third person to use.
The committee said his explanation that the men were there to discuss the redecoration of the flat and that he may have been given a "spike drink" was "not believable and, indeed ludicrous".
Why is he standing down in the General Election?
Labour big beast Keith Vaz announced he is quitting Parliament after his cocaine and rent boy scandal.
The married-father-of-two is standing down as MP for Leicester East after 32 years in the job.
His dramatic departure comes after the Commons sleaze watchdog found “compelling evidence” that he paid two men for sex and offered to buy cocaine for rent boys.
Mr Vaz was booted out of Parliament for six months for his behaviour on October 31.
But because of the snap election, he could have dodged his punishment and gone straight back to sitting in the Commons if he was re-elected.
Announcing his retirement, Mr Vaz said the people of Leicester "will always be in my heart".
In October 2019, the Commons Standards Committee has said he "expressed willingness" to purchase cocaine for others.
Recommending suspension, the Commons Standards Committee said the finding represented a "very serious breach" of the House code of conduct for MPs.
It said that by failing to co-operate fully with the Commons inquiry process, Mr Vaz had shown "disrespect for the House's standards system" and caused "significant damage" to the reputation and integrity of the Commons as a whole.
If the Commons agrees to the recommended suspension, it will trigger the opening of a recall petition in his Leicester East constituency, provided a general election does not intervene first.
