Keith Vaz stands down from influential committee following allegations

Married Labour MP Keith Vaz was caught paying two Eastern European male prostitutes for sex.

The Labour MP is under pressure to stand aside as chairman of the powerful Home Affairs Select Committee after apologising to his wife and children for the “hurt and distress” he caused them. An interim report in July led by Vaz said soliciting by sex workers should be decriminalised because they were being “penalised and stigmatised”.

John Mann, a Labour colleague of Mr Vaz, also said the Charity Commission needed to establish exactly what had happened with the payments.

A graphic text conversation was published with Vaz discussing the meeting and having sex with the male prostitutes, where Vaz requested pictures to be sent to him of them having sex.

However, the Leicester East MP said he would tomorrow confirm his status as head of the committee, which is is now probing a review of prostitution laws.

The man who allegedly paid the escorts for the “deposit” has been named by The Daily Mirror as Daniel Dimitru Dragusin.

“Mr Vaz has had at least two meetings with the escorts”, the paper continued. Although, the former Minister for Europe said he did not want any for himself.

Mr Vaz also hinted at plans to meet the escorts again, saying: “Right, OK, I’ll see you soon”.

The MP, who had fronted a safe sex campaign in his constituency, had said that he didn’t want to use a condom this time, either.

Daily Mail columnist Quentin Letts has again been accused of homophobia, after branding outed MP Keith Vaz “camp” and “flamboyant”.

Speaking to The Sun, Paris added: “This is same Keith Vaz who told me, last May, that he “couldn’t believe” I’d never met a prostitute that hadn’t been forced into it”.

“Does he like poppers”.

He then asked whether the Romanian spoke English and if he liked poppers.

As the evening progressed, Mr Vaz ordered the two escorts into sexual positions and dictated what they should do to each other.

In his letter, Bridgen writes: “I would urge you to consider examining the report and requesting a transcript from the Sunday Mirror of the incident to establish if there has been any breach of the law”.

The newspaper claims the money deposited into the bank account was paid by a man linked to Silver Star, a diabetes charity set up by Vaz.

Nordic Model Now (NMN) said the claims, made in the Sunday Mirror, amounted to a conflict of interest. “He was OK. He forgot the condom though”.

He added: “I don’t think what he’s been doing is illegal”.

When asked how he knew the escort had been clear of sexually transmitted diseases Mr Vaz reportedly replied “I don’t know”. “Or his mother. He treats me very badly”.

MPs on the House of Commons home affairs committee are threatening an unprecendented vote of no confidence in Keith Vaz if he refuses to resign as chairman when he meets them on Tuesday.

He has now stood aside from his role leading the cross-party group.