Editing Keith Vaz (section)

==Political career==
Vaz has been a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour party]] member since 1982. In 1983, Vaz stood in the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|general election]] as the Labour candidate in the Conservative-Liberal marginal [[Richmond and Barnes]] constituency, coming third with a swing away from Labour of 4.3% compared with a national average swing away of 9.3%. He stood as the Labour candidate in the [[1984 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|European Parliament election in 1984]] for [[Surrey West (European Parliament constituency)|Surrey West]], coming third.

On 11 June 1987, Vaz was elected as the Member of Parliament for Leicester East by defeating the sitting Tory MP [[Peter Bruinvels]] with a majority of 1,924. Three other [[Labour Party Black Sections]] members, [[Diane Abbott]], [[Paul Boateng]] and [[Bernie Grant]], entered the House of Commons at the same election.

Vaz was re-elected in 1992 (majority of 11,316), 1997 (majority of 18,422), 2001 (majority of 13,442), 2005 (majority of 15,867), 2010 (majority of 14,082), 2015 (majority of 18,352) and 2017 (majority of 22,428).

Vaz has held a variety of parliamentary posts. Between 1987 and 1992, he was a member of the [[Home Affairs Select Committee]], of which he was the chair from July 2007 to September 2016. Between 1993 and 1994, he was a member of the Executive Committee Inter-Parliamentary Union. Finally, between December 2002 and July 2007, Vaz acted as a senior Labour Member of the Select Committee for Constitutional Affairs.

In 1992, Vaz was given the role of Shadow Junior Environment Minister with responsibility for planning and regeneration, his first frontbench role. In 1994, the Race Relations (Remedies) Bill, which had first been introduced by Vaz, became law with the support of the UK Government, and which allowed unlimited compensation to be given to those who had suffered racial discrimination.<ref>{{cite act | title = Race Relations (Remedies) Act 1994| date = 3 May 1994|institution= UK Government| url = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/10/enacted}}</ref> He remained in this position until 1997, when he was given his first Government post as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Attorney General and Solicitor General. Vaz then served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Lord Chancellor's Department between May and October 1999.<ref name=twfy>{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/keith_vaz/leicester_east|title=Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East|publisher=TheyWorkForYou.com|access-date=6 June 2010}}</ref> This was quickly followed by his appointment as the Minister for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He served in this position from October 1999 and June 2001.<ref name=twfy/>

Other positions he held included as an elected member of the National Executive Committee and as the vice-chair of Women, Race and Equality Committee of the Labour Party. He held both of these positions since March 2007. Since 2000, he has been a patron of the Labour Party Race Action Group and in 2006 he was appointed the Chairman of the Ethnic Minority Taskforce.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Vaz was also appointed to a [[public bill committee]], which held its first meeting on 15 November 2016, looking at the [[Criminal Finances Act 2017|Criminal Finances Bill]] which aimed to tackle [[money laundering]] and [[corruption]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Elliott|first=Francis|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/disgraced-vaz-given-new-role-tackling-corruption-qdltw03fq|title=Disgraced Vaz given new role tackling corruption|work=The Times|date=15 November 2016|access-date=15 November 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

Vaz signed several early day motions sponsored by [[David Tredinnick (politician)|David Tredinnick]] MP supporting the continued funding of [[homoeopathy]] on the [[National Health Service]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41282&SESSION=905 |title=Early Day Motion No. 342 British Medical Association Motions on Homeopathy |date=29 June 2010 |last=Tredinnick |first=David |access-date=18 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215104117/http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41282&SESSION=905 |archive-date=15 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41216&SESSION=905 |title=Early Day Motion No. 284 British Medical Association Motions on Homeopathy |date=29 June 2010 |last=Tredinnick |first=David |access-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022100121/http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41216&SESSION=905 |archive-date=22 October 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Vaz supported [[Owen Smith]] in the [[2016 Labour Party (UK) leadership election|2016 Labour leadership election]].{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} He was a parliamentary supporter of [[Labour Friends of Israel]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lfi.org.uk/in-parliament/ |title=LFI Supporters in Parliament |access-date=2 September 2019 |work=Labour Friends of Israel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002100511/https://www.lfi.org.uk/in-parliament/ |archive-date=2 October 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>