LONDON: A senior British lawmaker resigned from his position as head of an influential parliamentary committee on Tuesday after becoming embroiled in a scandal involving drugs and male prostitutes.
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,” 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.
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, drugs 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 Vaz’s private life.
The Sunday Mirror has justified its reporting on the basis that there is a public interest in exposing Vaz given his role in scrutinizing legislation on sex workers and drugs.
In a statement to the Mail on Sunday, Vaz attacked the journalists while adding: “I am genuinely sorry for the hurt and distress that has been caused by my actions.”
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, 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. Vaz has previously said in Parliament that he would vote to ban poppers if the drug was proved to be harmful.
Vaz, who was born in Yemen to parents from the Indian state of Goa, was first elected to parliament in 1987 for Leicester East in central England.
British MP resigns over scandal
British MP resigns over scandal
Bangladesh shuts universities, turns off air conditioners as global fuel crunch hits
- Bangladesh relies on oil and gas imports for 95 percent of its energy needs
- Gas stations ration fuel, government offices ordered to halve electricity use
DHAKA: Bangladesh has closed educational institutions and slashed the use of air conditioning and lighting at government offices in a worsening energy crisis linked to the US-Israeli war with Iran and the closure of vital oil and gas routes from the Middle East.
A country of 170 million people, which relies on imports for 95 percent of its energy needs, Bangladesh has for years been vulnerable to disruptions in global energy markets.
Oil and natural gas prices have been soaring since the beginning of the US-Israeli attack on Iran last week, which triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on American-linked assets across the Gulf region and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Bangladeshi authorities almost immediately started implementing austerity measures, including fuel rationing at gas stations, ordering educational institutions to begin their Eid Al-Fitr holidays ahead of schedule, and government offices to minimize power consumption.
“The prime minister has already started using half of the lights at his office. He does not turn on air conditioning unless it’s urgent. This austerity is being practiced at all offices across the country,” Saleh Shibly, press secretary to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“The move has been undertaken as a preventive measure in case the global energy situation deteriorates further due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.”
The measures might offer some immediate relief if they can be enforced nationwide, as during summertime — from March to June — the use of air conditioning consumes more than 2,000 megawatts of electricity.
“The government needs to build consensus so that people realize that each and every one can contribute to this energy conservation,” said Prof. Abdul Hasib Chowdhury from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
But energy conservation could help only immediately, he said, as the Iran war brought to the spotlight the fact that Bangladesh has no strategic energy reserves — an issue that the prime minister and government, who only took office last month, will have to address during their term.
“Bangladesh needs to build a strategic reserve of energy — primary fuel for the power plants, and also for the industry. Between three and six months of energy reserves have to be here,” Chowdhury said. “This will take years of planning and work to build these reserves. Nevertheless, Bangladesh should do that.”
Oil prices have surged by about 50 percent since the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, topping $119 a barrel on Sunday.
For Bangladesh, every $10 increase in global fuel prices raises the monthly import bill by roughly $80 million, according to BRAC EPL, one of the country’s leading stockbrokers.
While the effect will not be felt immediately, especially as the government announced on Tuesday it had no plans to increase the prices of fuel or electricity, Bangladeshis are likely to experience a crisis in the longer term.
“It’s more like a looming crisis because any shortfall in supply takes a little bit of time to show. So, the agriculture will be affected, but it will be realized only after a few months,” Chowdhury said.
“It will affect transportation and, because of that, the primary food supply, which would add to inflation ... It is not a crisis as such at this moment, but it will be.”
