Home secretary helps rent boy MP Keith Vaz make a political comeback on Justice Committee

Home Secretary Amber Rudd was among a number of top Conservatives who voted Labour's Keith Vaz onto the House of Commons' powerful Justice Committee last night (31 October).

Fellow cabinet ministers Andrea Leadsom, Liam Fox and Jeremy Hunt also backed the disgraced Leicester East MP.

The senior Tories made the move despite a failed plot from Conservative backbencher Andrew Bridgen to stop Vaz from getting elected to powerful group of MPs.

"I do not believe the member for Leicester East will do anything to enhance the reputation and perception of Parliament — indeed, it will do the opposite," Bridgen told MPs.

Vaz, who was first elected to parliament in 1987, quit as chair of the Home Affairs Committee in September after The Sunday Mirror claimed the married father of two paid for the services of two male prostitutes.

The paper also alleged that Vaz offered to pay for cocaine, a class A drug, for the sex workers.

Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Hudson has said she will launch launched an investigation into Vaz's conduct.

Bridgen also reported Vaz to the Metropolitan Police in September. But despite his protest, 203 MPs voted Vaz onto the Justice Committee, while just seven MPs opposed the move.

"Select Committee membership is a matter for individual MPs," a Labour spokesperson told IBTimes UK.

Vaz had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. The Conservatives had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.