The return of Keith Vaz? Locals fear disgraced former Labour MP wants to replace Claudia Webbe two years after quitting the Commons over a drugs and rent boys scandal – and could run AGAINST Labour if it does not pick him

• Vaz, 64, quit Parliament at the 2019 election after more than 30 years as an MP
• He was caught offering to buy Class A drugs for male sex workers in 2016
• Webbe is facing a recall petition and by-election over harassment conviction

Claudia Webbe’s conviction for threatening to throw acid at a love rival could open the way for shamed ex-Labour MP Keith Vaz to attempt a return to national politics, locals fear.

Mr Vaz, 64, quit Parliament at the 2019 election, having been handed a six-month suspension from the Commons after he was caught offering to buy Class A drugs for male sex workers. 

The former Europe minister was replaced as MP at the election that year by Ms Webbe, but remains chairman of the local constituency Labour Party (CLP).

His successor is facing the possibility of a recall petition and by-election after today being handed a suspended 10-week jail sentence and 200 hours’ community service for harassing Michelle Merritt, in a row involving the 59-year-old’s relationship with her partner Lester Thomas, a Chelsea FC scout. 

She has been stripped of the Labour whip and kicked out of the party. Locals in Leicester say Mr Vaz has been ‘acting just like a parliamentary candidate’ recently by campaigning visibly on issues including boundary changes that could affect a Labour majority.

One told HuffPost UK: ‘The tricky question for Labour is if they don’t give Vaz some of what he wants, does he stand as an independent? He could cause quite a bit of damage in the seat.’

Ms Webbe held the seat with a majority of 6,000 in 2019, down from more than 22,000 enjoyed by Mr Vaz just two years previously.

Any independent run by Mr Vaz could split the vote and allow the Tories to take it. 

Mr Vaz, 64, quit Parliament at the 2019 election, having been handed a six-month suspension from the Commons after he was caught offering to buy Class A drugs for male sex workers.

His successor is facing the possibility of a recall petition and by-election after today being handed a suspended 10-week jail sentence and 200 hours’ community service for harassing Michelle Merritt, in a row involving the 59-year-old’s relationship with her partner Lester Thomas, a Chelsea FC scout.

Locals in Leicester say Mr Vaz has been ‘acting just like a parliamentary candidate’ recently by campaigning visibly on issues including boundary changes that could affect a Labour majority.

But a win by Mr Vaz would be massively contentious. With a fresh mandate from voters there would be no way to stop him from taking his seat.

The Sunday Mirror reported in September 2016 that Vaz, posing as an industrial washing machine salesman called Jim, invited two male prostitutes into his flat to engage in paid-for sex and offered to pay for cocaine for another man to use. 

The former Europe minister was found by the House of Commons Standards Committee to have committed a ‘very serious breach’ of code of conduct for MPs. 

His explanation that the men were there to discuss redecorating the London flat, and that he may have been given a ‘spiked drink’, was branded ‘not believable and, indeed, ludicrous’. 

Married with two children, Vaz, who was born in Aden to a family from Goa, was the MP for the central England seat of Leicester East from 1987 until 2019. 

As recently as September this year, MPs recommended he be barred from receiving a pass for Parliament usually handed to former MPs for carrying out a campaign of ‘sustained and unpleasant bullying’ towards a parliamentary worker.

The standards watchdog reprimanded him over his conduct towards a clerk on the Home Affairs Committee, of which he was chairman for nine years.

In a report the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) chairman Sir Stephen Irwin said he was guilty of ‘sustained and unpleasant bullying, with a real and enduring psychological impact’ that ended the woman’s career. 

‘(Vaz’s) conduct to the complainant was hostile, sustained, harmful and unworthy of a Member of Parliament. He should be ashamed of his behaviour,’ he added.

Vaz declined to co-operate with the investigation, claiming he was too ill.

Mr Vaz was suspended from Parliament for six months in October 2019 but announced in November that he would not stand in the December election.

However, Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed last week that because of the election, the remainder of the suspension has fallen away. He told MPs that if Mr Vaz was re-elected he would be free to return to the green benches.

North West Leicestershire Tory Andrew Bridgen said last week it would be ‘disappointing that in the event of a by-election in Leicester East Mr Vaz could return from ignominy without ever serving any sort of suspension from the House of Commons’.

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