Is Keith Vaz's plush new Westminster office a reward for terror vote?

Senior Labour MP Keith Vaz – who was told he would be rewarded for supporting controversial anti-terror laws – has been given a plush new office in Westminster.

The chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, moved into the sought-after room – which boasts a Thames view – following the death of its previous occupant Gwyneth Dunwoody.

On Wednesday it was revealed that Labour chief whip Geoff Hoon had sent Mr Vaz a letter thanking him for his help, adding: 'I trust that it will be appropriately rewarded!'

The Government got the laws, which allow police to detain terrorist suspects without charge for 42 days, through the Commons by only nine votes.

Mr Vaz's support for the Bill is thought to have persuaded a number of potential rebels to follow suit.

However, both Mr Hoon and Gordon Brown vociferously denied that the office was his reward for doing so.

Mr Hoon said he was not 'actively engaged' in deciding which MPs get which rooms, and again insisted the 'reward' comment was only a joke.

Appearing before the Commons liaison committee, Mr Brown was challenged by Mr Vaz himself about the claims of inducements. 

He asked the PM: 'Is it the case that you authorised or offered any backbench Member of Parliament a peerage or a knighthood or honour, or even the Governorship of Bermuda, in order to vote for your legislation?'

Mr Brown replied: 'Not at all.'

Last night Mr Vaz said the idea the room was a reward was 'absolutely ridiculous'.

He said he already had an office with a river view, but Mrs Dunwoody's old room was nearer his staff.

He said he applied for the room two days after she died, around two months before the Commons vote.

Incriminating: Handwritten letter from Geoff Hoon to Keith Vaz sent on June 12, 2008