From the Daily Mail:

A senior Labour MP is facing demands for a sleaze inquiry after intervening in a court case on behalf of a party donor.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the influential home affairs select committee, urged the High Court to delay proceedings involving a friend from whom he and his family had received lavish hospitality.

We can reveal that the friend – controversial lawyer Shahrokh Mireskandari – was on the brink of losing a long-running legal costs battle with an airline when Mr Vaz intervened…

Legal sources said the judge was furious at what he perceived to be ‘political interference’…

Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable, who has campaigned on behalf of a constituent ripped off by Mireskandari, said: ‘I am absolutely flabbergasted.

‘I have had a long letter from Keith Vaz in which he tries to tell me that he does not have a close relationship with Mireskandari and that his dealings with him were solely motivated by concerns for ethnic-minority lawyers.

‘This does not tally with the information becoming available, of him going to extraordinary lengths of approaching a judge in an ongoing court case.

‘I am not aware of any other precedent in modern times of politicians seeking to influence a member of the judiciary in this way. It raises serious questions about conduct.’

Mr Cable called for Jack Straw, who as Lord Chancellor has responsibility for ensuring the independence of the courts, to investigate.

But Mr Vaz could also face a second parliamentary inquiry if a complaint is made to the Committee on Standards in Public Life.