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Keith Vaz to serve on justice committee despite Tory MP’s move to stop him | |
(about 9 hours later) | |
Keith Vaz, the former chair of the home affairs select committee, has been appointed to the justice committee despite a rare parliamentary manoeuvre to stop him by a Conservative MP. | |
MPs voted by 203 votes to seven on Monday night to appoint the MP for Leicester East to the powerful committee which oversees Britain’s justice system. | |
Vaz, a former Labour minister, was forced to resign from the home affairs committee in September after claims that he paid for two male escorts at a time when the committee was investigating prostitution. | |
Claims that Vaz offered to pay for cocaine for the prostitutes are the subject of a complaint to the police and the House of Commons standards watchdog. | Claims that Vaz offered to pay for cocaine for the prostitutes are the subject of a complaint to the police and the House of Commons standards watchdog. |
Despite the complaints, Vaz stood to fill a vacant seat on the Commons justice committee. In a highly unusual move, the Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen forced a vote on the appointment. It is believed to be the first time a vote on such an appointment has been held for decades. | |
Bridgen told the house that the public would not forgive it for appointing an MP to an influential committee while police and parliament examine complaints against him. He said: “I would leave the house with this question. If the right honourable member for Leicester East found himself last month to be not fit to be chair of the home affairs select committee and the matters are unresolved, what makes him think that he is a fit and proper person this month?” | |
In addition to a possible police investigation, Vaz, 59, could face an inquiry by the parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Hudson. She has announced she will conduct an official investigation into Vaz’s conduct and determine whether he breached the MPs’ code of conduct, which covers public interest and whether damage was done to the reputation of the Commons. | |
Vaz could not be reached for comment. | Vaz could not be reached for comment. |
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