"Many people have urged me to stand again."
Disgraced former MP Keith Vaz has been belatedly kicked out of Labour after announcing he is standing in his old seat of Leicester East for a new local party.
Vaz was still a member of the party on June 6, 2024, when it was revealed that he was standing in the constituency for the One Leicester party.
On June 7, he was expelled from the party after being told he was still a full member.
Reportedly, Vaz’s membership had been terminated for breaching party rules prohibiting members from standing for public election in opposition to a party candidate.
The fact that he remained a candidate until now will anger many local party members who have been calling for him to be ejected for years.
They have warned that Keith Vaz has been campaigning for more than a year, concentrating his efforts on the local Hindu community in Leicester East.
It comes four years after Vaz announced his retirement from parliament following a six-month ban from the House of Commons for offering to buy cocaine for sex workers and obstructing inquiries by the standards commissioner.
In a leaflet to voters in the seat, Keith Vaz said:
“Many people have urged me to stand again.
“I have decided to do so and accept the nomination of Leicester’s newest party, One Leicester, to be their candidate for one more term.
“Although I have always held Labour values, I promise to put Leicester first and party politics second.”
Vaz will take on candidates from the main parties, as well as his successor, Claudia Webbe, who is standing as an independent candidate after being expelled from Labour over a harassment conviction in 2021.
Vaz was the MP for Leicester East for 32 years before he announced he would not be seeking re-election in 2019.
In 2021, Vaz was reprimanded after being found to have engaged in “sustained and unpleasant bullying” towards a parliamentary staff member.
The One Leicester party was launched in 2023 by the former Leicester Labour councillor and assistant mayor, Rita Patel, who was suspended from the party after voting to scrap the mayoral role.
Keith Vaz has vowed to donate his entire MP salary to charity and create a “seven days a week MP office”.
He said: “It was the greatest privilege of my life to serve as MP for Leicester East for over three decades.
“I absolutely love Leicester. Today, I am shocked with what I see.
“Despite so many opportunities, Leicester is unrecognisable, and on the edge of bankruptcy.”
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