Who Is Keith Vaz, the Indian-Origin MP Caught In a Sex Scandal?

He’s been called ‘Vazeline’ and the ‘Teflon MP’ for his ability to come out of the most sordid scandals unscathed.

File image of British MP Keith Vaz addressing the media outside Westminster Coroner’s Court. (Photo: Reuters)

The political career of Keith Vaz, Britain’s longest serving Indian-origin MP, is now hanging in the balance.

Vaz was found embroiled in a sex scandal on Saturday, according to Sunday Mirror. The tabloid claimed that the 59-year-old paid for two male prostitutes last month in a flat he owns.

But this is not the first time the MP has had muck thrown at him. He has been notoriously termed ‘Vazeline’ and the ‘Teflon MP’ for his ability to come out of the most sordid of scandals.

Here’s a brief background on Vaz.

Keith Vaz was the chair of the influential House of Commons Affairs Committee. (Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@DailyUkAgenda)

Relentless Self-Publicist

Born in 1956 to a Goan family, he moved to Yemen at an early age before shifting to Britain. He studied law at Cambridge before taking up the job of a solicitor.

Vaz is married to Maria Fernandes, and has two children, son Luke Vaz and daughter Anjali Vaz.

Vaz has often been called a “relentless self-publicist.”

The party thrown by him to celebrate his 25 years as an MP was attended by some of the most prominent names in Britain, including Prime Minister Theresa May, Tony Blair, Ed Milliband and police chief Bernard Hogan-Howe.

Vaz belongs to a well-connected family. His sister, Valerie, has been the MP for Walsall South since 2010 and his wife runs a law firm.

Vaz Wanted Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’ Banned

Vaz has been the chairman of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee, where he would often bring up issues relating to immigration, policing and counter-terrorism. Although he has stepped down from the post after the revelations, he has always maintained a high profile in the UK media.

He has been vocal abut his views on everything from Brexit and drug laws to child sexual abuse. He also launched an inquiry into the ill-effects of cocaine and wanted to decriminalise solicitation of sex workers.

“Treating soliciting as a criminal offence is having an adverse effect, and it is wrong that sex workers, who are predominantly women, should be penalised and stigmatised in this way. The criminalisation of sex workers should therefore end.”

The irony of this hasn’t escaped many media outlets.

According to Rushdie’s autobiography Joseph Anton, Vaz’s march calling for a ban on ‘The Satanic Verses’ was “one of the great days in the history of Islam and Great Britain”.

He had also led a campaign against video game violence.

Keith Vaz with Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. (Photo Courtesy: Keith Vaz’s Website)

The Hindu-Right Connect

Across certain sectors in Britain, Vaz has been criticised for exhibiting an anti-Muslim, anti-dalit propaganda of the Hindu Right.

But despite grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons, his media touch has been quite irrefutable. His on-camera Gangnam Style dancing gig with students was the talk of the town two years ago.

Political Career

His political ambition came to fruition in 1987 when he became an MP in Parliament, getting elected for Labour in Leicester East. By 1999, he became the first Asian minister to hold the post of a Europe minister.

He raised eyebrows within months of his appointment. It was in 2000 that Elizabeth Filkin, the then parliamentary commissioner for standards, initiated an inquiry into whether Vaz had taken payments from a solicitor.

Although he managed to get out of this smoothly, Filkin was undeterred. In 2001, she began investigating the allegation that Vaz helped process the UK passport application of the India-based billionaires Hinduja Brothers. Vaz was suspended from the Parliament for a month in 2002.

Keith Vaz speaking at a public gathering. (Photo Courtesy: http://www.keithvazmp.com/photo-gallery/)

The ‘Teflon’ Minister

He made his political comeback in 2007 after he helped shore up the increasingly significant Asian vote for first Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown.

As Brown took the prime minister’s office in 2007, Vaz was promoted to chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

For Vaz, the smell of scandal was never far away. In 2009 he was caught in the expenses scandal.

Despite the controversies he has been surrounded with, he remained unfazed. The ‘Teflon’ minister was described as “Vazeline” by The Telegraph, for being “seemingly able to brush aside scandals that would have quickly ended careers for others”