British MP Keith Vaz to quit key panel after reports he paid male escorts
British tabloids went to town with photographs from the sting operation, his remarks during the encounter as well as his purported text messages to the male escorts, reported to be European. (Getty Images)
Keith Vaz, the senior-most British MP of Indian origin, announced his resignation as chairman of a key parliamentary committee after he was caught in a sting operation with male prostitutes in his London flat, details of which were splashed by tabloids on Sunday.
The mass circulation ‘Sunday Mirror’ reported that Vaz, who is chairman of the influential Home Affairs Committee of parliament, paid for the services of four male escorts in August. A long-time Labour MP from Leicester East, Vaz, 59, is a married father of two children.
The tabloids went to town with photographs from the sting operation, his remarks during the encounter as well as his purported text messages to the male escorts, reported to be European.
After the story broke, Cambridge-educated Vaz suggested that the ‘Sunday Mirror’ may have paid the male escorts involved in the sting operation. The committee he chairs has been examining the issue of laws related to prostitution in Britain.
He told BBC: “It is deeply disturbing that a national newspaper should have paid individuals to have acted in this way. I have referred these allegations to my solicitor Mark Stephens of Howard Kennedy who will consider them carefully and advise me accordingly.”
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