Keith Vaz quits Home Affairs Committee over escort scandal

Keith Vaz has quit his role as chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee over allegations that he paid two male escorts for sex.

The Labour MP for Leicester East, who has publicly apologised to his wife and children for the "hurt and distress" his actions have caused, is due to meet with members of the committee, who had been threatening an unprecedented vote of no confidence.

Announcing his departure, he said: "Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable."

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Vaz appeared in Parliament yesterday, asking questions about terror suspects who have fled the UK, just a day after the Sunday Mirror accused him of meeting up with two eastern European male sex workers on 27 August at a flat he owns in north London.

New tapes have emerged today appearing to reveal intimate conversations between the MP and the two escorts about sex and the use of party drug poppers.

According to the Daily Mail, the men met up with Vaz on at least one occasion before the 27 August meeting and had been exchanging text messages with him "frequently".

It was reportedly when one of them recognised the MP on television that they approached the Sunday Mirror and claimed he had previously paid for their services.

The men, rather than the newspaper, then filmed the 27 August encounter before the details were published on Sunday.

It has also been claimed that money was paid into one of the escort's accounts by a man linked to a charity set up by Vaz, reports Sky News, although it adds that "there is no suggestion that the payment was made by the charity or that its money was involved".

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said he planned to report the allegations to the police, Charity Commission and House of Commons' standards watchdog.

He has reportedly received a letter from the law firm Howard Kennedy accusing him of "maliciously spreading false and highly defamatory scuttlebutt" about Vaz.

Keith Vaz under pressure to step down over male escort claims

5 September

Labour MP Keith Vaz is under pressure to stand down as chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee following the Sunday Mirror's claims that he paid for the services of two male escorts.

According to the newspaper, which illustrated its report with a picture supposedly of Vaz and one of the men, the married father-of-two met two eastern European male sex workers last month at a flat he owns in north London.

Vaz is alleged to have sent a text message to one of the men before the encounter asking him to bring poppers, a drug popular with gay men that the government came close to banning this year. The paper also claims he discussed the possibility of paying for cocaine for the next time they met, although said he would not take the drug himself.

In a bid to hide his true identity, the MP for Leicester East reportedly told the men his name was "Jim" and that he was a washing machine salesman.

In a statement to the Mail on Sunday, Vaz said he was "genuinely sorry for the hurt and distress that has been caused by my actions in particular to my wife and children".

He added that it was "deeply troubling that a national newspaper should have paid individuals who have acted in this way" and said he had referred the allegations to his solicitor.

Vaz said he did not want there to be "any distraction from the important work of the Home Affairs Select Committee" and said he would inform committee members of his plans when they meet on Tuesday.

The committee is currently overseeing a review of the UK's prostitution laws. In July it published an interim report saying it was "not yet convinced that buying sex should be outlawed, but that soliciting by sex workers should be decriminalised".

Earlier this year, Vaz argued in parliament that poppers should not be included on a list of substances banned by the Psychoactive Substances Act. Ministers later announced they would remain within the law.