page_title: Keith Vaz
hierarchical_section_title: Keith Vaz
caption_attribution_description: English: Official portrait of Keith Vaz
context_page_description: Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Leicester East from 1987 to 2019. He is the British Parliament's longest-served British Asian MP.
  Vaz served as the Minister for Europe between October 1999 and June 2001. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in June 2006. He was Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee from July 2007, but resigned from this role on 6 September 2016 after the Sunday Mirror revealed he had engaged in unprotected sexual activity with male prostitutes and had said he would pay for cocaine if they wished to use it.
  At the end of October 2016, Vaz was appointed to the Justice Select Committee; a parliamentary vote to block this development was defeated. On 10 November 2019, he said in a statement that he was retiring from Parliament and would not be standing for re-election at the general election the following month.
context_section_description: Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz (born 26 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East from 1987 to 2019. He is the British Parliament's longest-served British Asian MP.
  Vaz served as the Minister for Europe between October 1999 and June 2001. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in June 2006. He was Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee from July 2007, but resigned from this role on 6 September 2016 after the Sunday Mirror revealed he had engaged in unprotected sexual activity with male prostitutes and had said he would pay for cocaine if they wished to use it. 
  At the end of October 2016, Vaz was appointed to the Justice Select Committee; a parliamentary vote to block this development was defeated. On 10 November 2019, he said in a statement that he was retiring from Parliament and would not be standing for re-election at the general election the following month.
caption: Vaz in 2017
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