Keith Vaz instructs Assange lawyer over rent boy allegations

The Labour MP Keith Vaz, 59, is instructing Julian Assange’s former lawyer amid accusations he has been using rent boys.

Mr Vaz has enlisted the help of Mark Stephens, of Howard Kennedy after the Sunday Mirror reported that he had Eastern European rent boys at his flat in London last week.

He has since stepped down as chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee.

In a written statement, Mr Vaz stated: “I am genuinely sorry for the hurt and distress that has been caused by my actions, in particular to my wife and children. I will be informing the committee on Tuesday of my intention to stand aside from chairing the committee with immediate effect.”

Mr Vaz has been Labour MP for Leicester East since 1987. It is alleged that asked the prostitutes to bring poppers and discussed the possibility of obtaining cocaine, though not for use by him.

According to The Sunday Times, Mr Vaz told the BBC: “It is deeply disturbing that a national newspaper should have paid individuals to have acted in this way. I have referred these allegations to my solicitor, Mark Stephens of Howard Kennedy, who will consider them carefully and advise me accordingly.”

Under Mr Vaz’s chairmanship, the Home Affairs Committee recently came to the conclusion that soliciting by prostitutes should cease to be a crime.

Mr Vaz also voted against the outlawing of poppers.

He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a first-class BA in Law in 1979 and is married to Maria Fernandes, a solicitor who runs the firm Fernandes Vaz.