Disgraced Labour MP Keith Vaz faces colleagues on powerful committee as he fights to stay its chairman after allegations he used male prostitutes
Sources have told The Sun he will get his marching orders when he meets colleagues for showdown talks in Parliament
DISGRACED Labour MP Keith Vaz will fight for his political future this morning as the Home Affairs committee meets to discuss his future as its chairman after becoming embroiled in a scandal involving male prostitutes.
Sources have told The Sun he will get his marching orders when he meets colleagues for showdown talks in Parliament later today.
One member of the committee said: “He will try to cling on at all costs but the tide is rolling in”
Another added: “It’s all rather sordid, but taken in isolation the offering to buy cocaine thing makes his position untenable.
“Could he really ever chair another session on drugs again?
“If this was the Environment or International Aid committee then things might be a little different, but we look into drug policy all of the time.
“I don’t think he can continue and I imagine a majority of the other members agree.”
Committee insiders said the MPs would listen to Mr Vaz’s side of the story then make it clear he cannot possibly sit in on further business.
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They are then prepared to give him 24 hours to decide whether he really does want to try and stay in his role or not.
“I understand he’s proposing to come to the meeting and test the water, I don’t think that he has the numbers to survive and I rather hope he will come to that conclusion himself," one added.
But there was confusion over what action the MPs on the Committee can actually take if the 57-year-old refuses to quit, given the chairman is elected to the post by the whole House.
On Sunday Mr Vaz claimed: “I will of course inform committee members first of my plans when we meet on Tuesday.
“My decision has been based entirely on what is in the best interests of the committee which I have had the privilege of chairing for the last nine years.”
The veteran MP, who has publicly apologised to his wife and children for the "hurt and distress" he caused them, is facing a possible investigation by Commons' sleaze watchdogs as the fallout from reports that he paid two male escorts for their services threatens to overwhelm his career.
And he is facing further questions after he was caught on CCTV meeting a younger man at a London hotel two years ago.
The high-profile Leicester East representative brazenly returned to work in the House of Commons yesterday, just 24 hours after the scandal broke.
And he remained composed as he asked questions in the chamber about terror suspects who have fled Britain to join Islamic State as well as the war in Yemen, where he was born.
Mr Vaz met the two escorts at a flat he owns near his family home in north London last month, according to reports in the Sunday Mirror.
It also claimed that money was paid into an account used by one of them by a man linked to a charity set up by the MP.
There is no suggestion in the newspaper report that the charity's money was used in the affair.
He has faced numerous calls to step aside from the Home Affairs committee, which he has chaired since 2007, including criticism from the Prime Minister.
When asked about the situation Theresa May said voters must be able to have "confidence" in their politicians after the allegations emerged.
She said MPs have a duty to their constituents but stressed that decisions on his future were a matter for Mr Vaz.
She said: "What Keith does is for Keith, and any decisions he wishes to make are for him.
";But I think overall what people look for is confidence in their politicians."