Ex-Labour MP Keith Vaz reprimanded by Parliament’s standards watchdog for carrying out campaign of ‘hostile, sustained, harmful’ bullying, saying ‘he should be ashamed of his behaviour’

Former Labour MP Keith Vaz carried out a campaign of ‘sustained and unpleasant bullying’ towards a parliamentary worker, the standards watchdog said today.

The ex-Leicester East MP was reprimanded over his conduct towards a clerk on the Home Affairs Committee, of which he was chairman for nine years.

In a report released to day the The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) recommended he never be given a pass for the parliamentary estate, traditionally given to ex-parliamentarians, because of his behaviour.

Panel chairman Sir Stephen Irwin said he was guilty of ‘sustained and unpleasant bullying, with a real and enduring psychological impact’ that ended the woman’s career. 

‘(Vaz’s) conduct to the complainant was hostile, sustained, harmful and unworthy of a Member of Parliament. He should be ashamed of his behaviour,’ he added.

The 64-year-old former Europe minister, who was in the Commons for more than 30 years, declined to co-operate with the investigation, claiming he was too ill.

The ex-Leicester East MP was reprimanded over his conduct towards a clerk on the Home Affairs Committee, of which he was chairman for nine years.

The 64-year-old former Europe minister, who was in the Commons for more than 30 years, declined to co-operate with the investigation, claiming he was too ill.

Mr Vaz quit Parliament at the 2019 election, having been handed a six-month suspension from the Commons after he was caught offering to buy Class A drugs for male sex workers.  

The Sunday Mirror reported in September 2016 that Vaz, posing as an industrial washing machine salesman called Jim, invited two male prostitutes into his flat to engage in paid-for sex and offered to pay for cocaine for another man to use

The former Europe minister was found by the House of Commons Standards Committee previously to have committed a ‘very serious breach’ of code of conduct for MPs. 

Married with two children, Vaz, who was born in Aden to a family from Goa, was the MP for the central England seat of Leicester East from 1987 until 2019. 

Share this article

Source: Read Full Article