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LONDON • A senior British lawmaker resigned from his position as head of an influential parliamentary committee yesterday after becoming embroiled in a scandal involving drugs and male prostitutes.
Mr Keith Vaz from the opposition Labour Party, a married father of two and one of the first British Asian ministers, was recorded paying two escorts for their services, according to a report in the Sunday Mirror.
"Those who hold others to account must themselves be accountable," Mr Vaz said in a statement. He said he was stepping down to allow the committee's "important work" to be carried out "without any distractions whatsoever".
"I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair," he said.
Mr Vaz, a 59-year-old former Europe minister under ex-premier Tony Blair, chairs a powerful home affairs parliamentary committee which conducts probes into immigration, drug policies and sex workers.
The story, recounted in lurid detail typical of Britain's aggressive tabloid press, has provoked a debate about whether the newspaper intruded unfairly into Mr Vaz's private life.
The Sunday Mirror has justified its reporting on the basis that there is a public interest in exposing Mr Vaz, given his role in scrutinising legislation on sex workers and drugs.
Mr Vaz was filmed and recorded meeting the escorts at a flat he owns near his home in north London last month, according to the report. In one conversation with an escort published in the tabloid and its sister publication the Daily Mirror, Mr Vaz reportedly offered to buy cocaine for a later date, although he said he would not take any himself.
He also asked an escort to bring the party drug poppers with him for their encounter. Mr Vaz has previously said in parliament that he would vote to ban poppers if the drug was proved to be harmful.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/british-mp-resigns-over-drug-and-escorts-scandal
