Vaz rejects 'contempt' claim

Mr Vaz is supported by the prime minister

Europe Minister Keith Vaz has rejected accusations that he impeded an internal Labour party inquiry into allegations of irregularities in the membership of his local constituency party.

A complaint was allegedly made in 1995 by Claire Ward, now the Labour MP for Watford, who was involved in the inquiry

Keith Vaz has the prime minister's full support - end of story

Downing Street spokesman

She accused Mr Vaz at the time of treating the investigation "with contempt" and outlined her complaint in writing to senior party figures, according to The Guardian newspaper.

But Mr Vaz told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire the article dates back seven years and is "wrong".

He said he had told the author at the time that the internal inquiry the claims centre on "was not an inquiry into me but it was an inquiry into the Labour party, that I did not give evidence to it, that I was not involved in it".

Mr Vaz rejected suggestions from critics - including Conservative leader William Hague - that he should resign, saying: "I am enjoying my job, I have the confidence of the prime minister."

The new allegations come days after the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Elizabeth Filkin, accused Mr Vaz of obstructing her recent inquiry into his dealings with businessmen.

Resignation call

The minister said he believed a new system of scrutiny should be set up, possibly involving a high court judge in confidential sittings.

If clear rules of evidence and procedure were also introduced "then everybody is clear what is happening", Mr Vaz added.

Ms Filkin knew about Ms Ward's complaint and questioned her three times during the investigation, which cleared Mr Vaz of wrongdoing in all but one case.

Claire Ward: Raised complaint with senior party figures

According to The Guardian, Ms Ward's letters allege the party had failed for years to deal with allegations of irregularities in the membership of Mr Vaz's Leicester East constituency party and "improper interference" by him in the running of the local council.

It is claimed that in one of the letters allegedly sent to a senior Labour party official Ms Ward said Mr Vaz had treated local party members and herself "with contempt".

In her report, Ms Filkin said: "I am bound to record the anxiety which Ms Ward expressed to me that if the matters raised with the inquiry team by members of the Labour Party were not dealt with they were likely to resurface.

"She said she believed that, in part, the allegations which have emerged during the course of my investigation of the original complaint ... have been raised because the internal Labour Party inquiry was not fully completed."

Blair backing

The prime minister's spokesman said on Thursday: "Keith Vaz has the prime minister's full support - end of story."

But, speaking to the BBC earlier, Mr Hague said: "He can keep the integrity of his government or he can keep Mr Vaz but he can't keep both."

Shadow cabinet office spokesman Andrew Lansley said the "contempt with which Mr Vaz treated the parliamentary inquiry was a repetition of the manner in which he treated the Labour party's own efforts to scrutinise his conduct".

That call was echoed by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Goodhart QC, a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, who said Mr Vaz "should go or be removed".

Lord Goodhart said his committee believed the current procedures for calling MPs to account were inadequate.

Further light could be thrown on the allegations that Mr Vaz obstructed Ms Filkin's efforts when the official transcripts detailing his evidence are published on Friday.