As the Keith Vaz rent boy scandal has developed over the last 48 hours, one figure who has shown the troubled Labour MP support is Commons speaker John Bercow.
However unlikely it may seem, Bercow and Vaz are close friends who socialise away from Westminster, sometimes attending football matches together.
For instance, a year ago they were in Vaz’s Leicester constituency watching Leicester City take on Arsenal:
Mr Speaker and Keith Vaz in the posh part watching Leicester v Arsenal today. pic.twitter.com/csv846590S
— Eye Spy MP (@eyespymp) September 26, 2015
And in March Bercow travelled to Leicester as Vaz’s guest of honour at the unveiling of a £62,000 public work of art called The World Tree.
Meanwhile back in 2014 Vaz and Bercow together hosted the Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan at the Commons, where he was presented with the Global Diversity Award, as this video shows:
During yesterday’s Home Office questions session in the Commons chamber, it was noteworthy that Bercow called Vaz to speak not once, but twice.
This gave the embattled Labour MP an opportunity to appear in public almost as though his recent transgressions had never come to light.
As one of the most powerful office holders in parliament, ultra-liberal Bercow could turn out to be crucial in determining Vaz’s political future.
Let’s hope his friendship with Vaz doesn’t get in the way of his professional judgment.
