Report finds Keith Vaz engaged in “sustained and unpleasant bullying”

A report published following an inquiry into the behaviour of Keith Vaz has found that the ex-Labour MP engaged in “sustained and unpleasant bullying” of parliamentary clerks when he was chair of the home affairs select committee.

The independent expert panel, which deals with bulling and harassment complaints brought against MPs, concluded that Vaz had between 2007 and 2008 breached parliament’s bullying and harassment policy “on several occasions”.

The two-year investigation reported that the former MP for Leicester East had caused “real and enduring psychological impact” on the complainant, and his conduct had resulted in her leaving her career at the House of Commons.

The clerk said she was forced to leave her job in 2011 as a result of Vaz’s behaviour. She accused him of subjecting her to “inappropriate anger” and making “demeaning references” in front of other people.

In one incident, after the staff member had left her role with the committee, the panel heard that Vaz told her that “in relation to a meeting he had had with some prostitutes, they ‘had reminded him of’ the complainant”.

The report also stated that Vaz threatened to take pictures of the complainant drinking alcohol while on a trip to Russia and show them to her manager, adding: “The implication of the threat was that she was liable to drink to excess so as to affect her performance. There was no substance to this.”

“On her account, the effect of the respondent’s behaviour was to undermine the complainant and rob her of confidence in her judgment and abilities, so that ultimately she felt compelled to leave her work,” the panel noted.

“The respondent’s conduct deserves a clear and formal reprimand, which we now pronounce. The respondent’s conduct to the complainant was hostile, sustained, harmful and unworthy of a MP. He should be ashamed of his behaviour.”

The panel said it would have been appropriate to remove any pass he might have held for the parliamentary estate, as an ex-MP, and that his eligibility to hold a ‘former members’ pass’ should “never be restored”.

Following the publication of the report today, a statement issued on behalf of Vaz said: “A family member of Mr Vaz was informed yesterday that a report was to be published relating to a complaint from 2007, 14 years ago, from a person who was never employed by him, and who left the employment of the House in 2011 to become a freelance journalist. One of the issues was a dispute as to which restaurant the HASC should choose for dinner in Kiev in 2007. Mr Vaz retired in 2019.”

It described the inquiry as a “deeply fractured process that has cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds”, saying the total overall cost now stands at more than £1m.

“The process itself is so riddled with flaws that it has been the subject of 100 recommended changes by an independent reviewer, which have now been accepted in full. If the recommendations had been implemented earlier, this complaint would simply have no legs,” it added.

“As a direct result of the protracted and debilitating process, Mr Vaz was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy for which he was hospitalised and for which he is still undergoing treatment.”

Vaz stood down as an MP at the 2019 general election. He was first elected to represent Leicester East in 1987. He served as the minister for Europe between 1999 and 2001 before chairing the home affairs select committee from 2007 to 2016.