Labour to debate whether Keith Vaz will stand as MP at election
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Version 0 of 1. Shadow ministers fear his candidature could become distraction during campaign The future of the former minister Keith Vaz will be debated by Labour’s ruling body following tensions over whether he should be allowed to stand for Labour in next month’s general election. The national executive committee will consider whether the former MP for Leicester East, who has held the seat for the past 32 years and has a majority of 22,000, will become a distraction to Labour’s general election campaign if he stands again. Last week, the UK’s longest sitting Asian MP, was given an unprecedented six-month ban from parliament for offering to buy cocaine for sex workers and obstructing inquiries by the standards commissioner. The committee will also be asked to consider whether to endorse Chris Williamson, the MP for Derby North, who has been accused of repeatedly downplaying antisemitism in the party, and the Jarrow MP, Stephen Hepburn, who has been suspended over sexual harassment allegations. Diane Abbott is among those NEC members calling for Vaz to stand down. She told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme last week: “I think he should consider his position. I think he himself should agree not to be a candidate.” Other shadow ministers have told the Guardian that Vaz, an NEC member, could become a distraction during what is expected to be a hard-fought and negative campaign by the Conservatives. “Right now, the Tories are seen as the party of sleaze. We don’t need this,” said one. However, the NEC has received letters of support from community groups and fellow MPs calling for Vaz to be endorsed as a candidate, informed sources said. “Keith is like an errant brother. He has not been suspended [by Labour] and therefore it is hard to see on what grounds the party can decide to stop him from standing again,” a senior party source said. Stephen Timms, the former Labour minister, has called for Vaz to be allowed to stand again. “I think Keith has made a great contribution in parliament over a long time,” he told TalkRadio last week. Vaz was chair of the powerful home affairs select committee during his 2016 encounter with the sex workers and oversaw inquiries into drugs and sex work. According to the Mirror, he pretended to be a washing machine salesman called Jim. His punishment was rubber-stamped on Friday by the Commons before the dissolution of parliament so as to assist the Labour party if it decides to prevent him from standing again in the 12 December election. The standards committee said his explanation for what happened during an encounter with male sex workers was “not believable and, indeed, ludicrous”. Labour’s chief whip, Nick Brown MP, said the party accepted the committee’s findings following a three-year investigation into Vaz. If Vaz stands and is re-elected, he will be unable to take up his seat until his suspension ends. He could then still face a recall petition to give voters in Leicester East the chance to oust him. He could face further action from the committee over comments posted to his personal website that appeared to criticise the report, the Commons was told. Vaz claimed that the recording upon which the committee and commissioner relied had been “completed discredited”. He said he had been admitted to hospital and would not comment further. In response, the chair of the standards committee, Labour’s Kate Green, told MPs she would be open for the newly constituted committee to hear a complaint about this. Supporters of Williamson have launched a public campaign for him to be readmitted to the party on the grounds that he has been the victim of a witch-hunt. He was suspended in February after he claimed that Labour had been “too apologetic” in response to criticism of its handling of antisemitism allegations. He was readmitted to the party and issued with a formal warning following a hearing of an NEC antisemitism panel in June – prompting an outcry from MPs, peers and Jewish groups. He was suspended again in July after a second panel reviewed the decision to reinstate him and found it “cannot safely stand”. Labour also imposed a separate suspension on 3 September over additional allegations of misconduct. Last month, Williamson lost a high court bid to be reinstated to the party. Unlike 2017, important selections for other seats will be decided in the coming days by panels made up of NEC,constituency parties and regional reps. Some other safe seats are yet to select candidates because of decisions to stand down, including Luton North and West Bromwich West. |