Was Keith Vaz promised an honour in return for supporting 42 days?

The Daily Telegraph has the less than edifying story involving Keith Vaz about how our civil liberties are being decided upon:

Gordon Brown is under pressure to reveal whether Keith Vaz, the influential head of a Parliamentary Committee, has been offered a peerage or honour in return for backing the Government’s controversial counter-terrorism measures.

The Daily Telegraph has seen a private letter sent by chief whip Geoff Hoon to Mr Vaz expressing an expectation that his former ministerial colleague will be “appropriately rewarded” for backing the measure to hold terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge.

Mr Vaz is the Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee. He was previously opposed to the plans but later offered his full backing. He made a major speech during the debate on the proposals which is thought to have won over some backbench MPs. Securing his backing was seen as crucial by the Government …

The Prime Minister has been accused of offering rebel backbenchers a series of deals in exchange of their votes but the chief whip’s letter may provide the first hard evidence that rewards were potentially available to those supportive of the plans.