Labour MP Keith Vaz suspended for six months for cocaine scandal
Labour MP Keith Vaz has been given the longest ever parliamentary ban after offering to buy cocaine for escorts he had hired.
The Commons Standards Committee on Monday recommended that the Leicester East MP should face a six-month suspension after offering to buy cocaine for male sex workers during a 2016 Sunday Mirror sting operation.
Read more: Labour MP Keith Vaz should be suspended for six months after drugs and sex scandal
Parliament unanimously voted to suspend Vaz, with Labour opposition chief whip Nick Brown saying the party: “Accepts the report, accepts the findings and accepts the recommendations in full.”
Committee chair Kate Green said the committee was concerned that Vaz would not serve the full suspension if he was re-elected at the 12 December election and would only in effect have a three-day ban.
This is due to the parliamentary convention that no parliament can bind its successor.
She told the House of Commons that if Vaz were to stand again that the new parliament should bring the ban forward.
“It’s our view that should the right honrouable member be returned to the house we would urge the incoming parliament passes as a resolution as quickly as possible to ensure the full sanction of the term is served,” she said.
Vaz was recorded offering to buy cocaine for two male escorts he hired in September 2016.
When investigated by the Standards Committee that he had hired the escorts for interior decorating advice.
He also claimed that he did not remember the incident and that he may have been drugged himself.
The committee dismissed the excuse as “not believable and, indeed, ludicrous”.
Despite this, Vaz still argued his innocence in a statement released shortly after the committee’s recommendation was published on Monday.
A spokesperson for the MP said: “Mr Vaz has never bought, possessed, dealt with or used illegal drugs.
“He has a cardiovascular condition which would mean that were he to consume any non-prescribed drugs he would in all likelihood die.
“Mr Vaz vigorously rejects the allegation that he has failed to cooperate with the inquiry.”
Vaz has not said whether he would run in the upcoming general election, however the Leicester East Labour party still supports his candidacy.
Read more: Diane Abbott tells Labour MP Keith Vaz to quit over cocaine scandal
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott today told the BBC that he should not run.
Abbott told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “I think he himself should agree not to be a candidate.”