Wife of Keith Vaz thinks Labour MP was ‘suicidal’ after being outed by Daily Mirror
By Will Stroude
Maria Fernandes, wife of Keith Vaz, has detailed the extent of the fallout following a Sunday Mirror sting that exposed the MPs use of male escorts earlier this month.
The tabloid alleged that Vaz, who resigned as chair the Home Affairs Select Committee following the sting, had sex with two male escorts, and offered to reimburse them if they bought cocaine (he had no intention to take any himself, however).
Despite the fallout, Mrs Fernandes has detailed her decision to stick by her husband. Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, she explained: “I think he was suicidal. We have to look after our own. I am angry with him but my love is greater. Yet if it happens again, I am done.”
She added: “We’ve been happily married for a long time, we have two beautiful children, and we have a good life together, and he has threatened that by his behaviour. And if he does that again, then I’ll sling him out.”
Despite media coverage seeming to focus on the fact that the escorts were male, Mrs Fernandes insisted that the gender of the people he cheated with has made little difference to her reaction.
“I can’t say sex with men is any different,” she said. “I was betrayed, my trust was betrayed and in a sense it doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or a woman.
“The shock was also the whole scenario of allegedly using sex workers because it’s so unlike him. If I expected anything could have happened, it would have been within a relationship rather than, you know…
She continued: “Actually, had it been within a relationship, it could have been worse as there would have been an emotional connection. In a sense [the fact they were escorts is] better but I don’t condone paying for sex.”
“I’ve decided to forgive him. That’s different to forgiving him right now. If I don’t forgive him eventually, it is going to tear me up. It’s going to destroy me and I don’t want that. I don’t like that feeling of anger and bitterness.
“Although I’m a lapsed Christian, there is still a Christian part of me that talks about forgiveness because you let go if you forgive. So from that point of view, yes, I’ve made the decision but how it will be done … that’s all to happen in the future.”
While a number of people, including Peter Tatchell, have defended the MP against what they consider to be an unecessary intrutision into his private life, journalist ant Attitude’s editor-at-large Paris Lees, who defended the rights of sex workers during a Home Office Select Committee hearing has accused Vaz of hypocrisy, claiming he made comments to her that sex workers were forced into the industry against their will.
…this begs the question does Keith Vaz pay for sex workers believing, as he claimed to, that sex workers are usually forced into sex work?
— Paris Lees (@parislees) September 4, 2016