Keith Vaz has confirmed that he will no longer serve at the chair of Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee after the Sunday Mirror published allegations that he had used the services of male escorts.
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He says that the reports made it impossible for the work of the committee to take place without distraction.
Sky’s Darren McCaffrey said Tory MPs are likely to urge the Labour MP to stand down later, and if he refuses, he will be given 24 hours before a vote of no confidence is held.
Keith Vaz has quit as head of one of the most influential House of Commons committees after becoming embroiled in a rent boy scandal.
Conservative Home Affairs Committee member David Burrowes told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “I think he has done the right and honourable thing”.
I am immeasurably proud of the work the Committee has undertaken over the last 9 years, and I am privileged to have been the longest serving Chair of this Committee.
He has received a letter from law firm Howard Kennedy accusing him of “maliciously spreading false and highly defamatory scuttlebutt” about Mr Vaz.
He said the decision to resign immediately has been his alone and that his first consideration “has been the effect of recent events on my family”.
In the interim the committee will be led by senior Conservative MP Tim Loughton.
He added: “I would like to thank my fellow members of the committee, past and present, for their tremendous support”.
He had faced claims that the committee’s investigations into issues like prostitution or drugs could be undermined if he remained as chairman.
“What has been exposed through the papers meant he was fatally compromised to continue as chair”.
Corbyn said: “Well, he hasn’t committed any crime that I know of”.
On Monday, he appeared in the House of Commons chamber to take part in questions to the home secretary, Amber Rudd.
Mr Vaz was reported as saying that he is not intending to leave his post on Labour’s National Executive Committee.
Some of his constituents have called for him to resign as an MP and Conservative Andrew Bridgen, who has demanded police and parliamentary investigations, said: “I have always been of the opinion that Keith Vaz is not fit to be an MP”.
Vaz said he has referred the newspaper allegations to his lawyer, “who will consider them carefully and advise me accordingly”.
The Home Affairs Select Committee conducts probes into immigration, drugs policies and sex workers. “It is incredibly important the committee carries on the important work we are doing scrutinising government”.
On Monday, Theresa May increased the pressure on Vaz by calling for MPs to maintain the public’s confidence in them or consider their positions.
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“And on that basis he has taken that decision and the committee agreed with him that that was the rightful selection for him to take with regret”.
