Keith Vaz spoke of his ‘shock’ that politicians took poppers in parliament just months before he allegedly asked for the sex drug
Politician allegedly told male escorts 'we need to get this party started' before asking for the sex-enhancing drug
KEITH Vaz spoke of his "great surprise" and "shock" that MPs used poppers, official documents reveal.
The married Labour politician is alleged to have asked male prostitutes to bring the sex drug before he paid them for romps.
Video footage shows a man who appears to be the Leicester East MP welcoming in a male said to be an escort before saying: "Let's get the party started."
And when asked if he has taken poppers before, he answers: "Yeah".
Yet back in January at a Home Affairs Select Committee, Vaz described his "shock" after discovering that MPs had taken the drug before speaking at the House of Commons Dispatch Box.
Hansard records reveal he said: "The shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown), has said—this was a bit of shock for me after 28 years in this House—that Ministers have stood at the Dispatch Box having had poppers.
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"I think that is what she said and it was a great surprise to the House.
"She obviously knows more than I do about such issues, even though she claims that she knew nothing about drugs until she became the shadow Minister with responsibility for drugs."
Vaz was then told that former Labour MP Ernest Bevin once took poppers for a heart murmur.
He replies: "I thank my hon. Friend for that information. I wonder whether they are still in use around the Cabinet table."
Later, Vaz stated his support for a potential ban on the muscle relaxant.
He added: "Without equivocation, I give [the minister] a guarantee that if the review decides that poppers are harmful, I will be the first in the Division Lobby with him, supporting that view.";
has claimed the 59-year-old was caught begging for a foursome as he met two Eastern European male prostitutes for sex eight days ago.
The veteran MP has been chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, which monitors crime, immigration and drug policy, for almost a decade.
In July this year the committee published a report calling for the decriminalisation of soliciting by sex workers and sex workers sharing premises.
Vaz reportedly told escorts visiting him at a London flat "we need to get this party started".
In a series of texts he allegedly asked the men to bring the sex-enhancing drugs to the meeting.
The MP for Leicester East since 1987 has referred the allegations to his solicitor and claimed that he has been the victim of a sting operation.
He paid the men in cash following the meeting at a flat close to his Edgware home, it was reported.
Vaz, who has previously said he is "not convinced" men who pay for sex should face prosecution, has said he intends to stand down as chair of the House of Commons home affairs committee.
But he has not stood down as an MP and is waiting to see how much support he has from colleagues.
It is has claimed that Vaz tried to hide his identity from two male escorts by claiming to be an industrial washing machine salesman called Jim.
The paper has said Vaz had at least two meetings with the escorts.
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