Nigel Evans

Ewa Kopacz, Nigel Evans and Bogdan Borusewicz at the Conference of the Speakers of EU Parliaments in Warsaw (2012)

Nigel Martin Evans (born 10 November 1957) is a British politician. Since 1992 he has been Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley constituency. He was First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, one of the Speaker's three deputies, from 2010 until his resignation in 2013.

Early life

Evans was born on 10 November 1957 in Swansea. He was educated locally at the Dynevor School, and at University College of Swansea, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics in 1979. He was involved in the management of his family's newsagents and convenience store in Swansea.

Political career

In 1985, Evans was elected as a councillor to the West Glamorgan County Council. In 1990 he became the deputy Conservative group leader, before standing down as a councillor in 1991.

He contested Swansea West at the 1987 general election but was defeated by former minister Alan Williams by 7,062 votes. He was selected to contest the Pontypridd by-election, 1989 following the death of Brynmor John. He was defeated by Kim Howells in Pontypridd by 10,794 votes. He fought his third election in one parliament when he was selected to contest the very safe Conservative seat of Ribble Valley in the by-election caused by the resignation of David Waddington to become the Leader of the House of Lords in 1990, but was again defeated at the Ribble Valley by-election on 7 March 1991 when Mike Carr gained the seat for the Liberal Democrats by 4,601 votes.

Nigel Evans regained Ribble Valley from the Liberal Democrats at the 1992 general election defeating Carr by 6,542 votes and has remained the constituency's MP since then. He made his maiden speech on 20 May 1992.^[1] He was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary PPS to the Secretary of State for Employment David Hunt in 1993 and remained Hunt's PPS when he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1994. In 1995, Evans became the PPS to Tony Baldry the Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1995, and in 1996 became the PPS to the new Secretary of State for Wales William Hague.

With the Conservative Party not winning a single seat in Wales at the 1997 general election, Evans was drafted onto the frontbench by John Major as a spokesman on Welsh Affairs. He became a member of the Shadow Cabinet under Iain Duncan Smith as the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales from 2001 to 2003. He had publicly criticised the government for not having a dedicated Secretary of State for Wales in a cabinet post, so when the new Conservative leader Michael Howard decided to take the role outside of the Shadow Cabinet, Evans chose to return to the backbenches.

He became a member of both the Trade and Industry the Welsh Affairs Select Committees in 2003; and in November 2004, he was appointed a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, with specific responsibility for overseeing Conservatives Abroad and mobilising the Conservative vote overseas. He returned to the back-benches on the election of David Cameron in 2005 deciding to dedicate more time to his work on the Council of Europe and Western European Union. He has been a member of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee since the 2005 general election.

On the issue of Climate Change, Evans has expressed his belief in the solar variation theory and the causes of warming on the earth and on other planets being sunspots,^[2] and praised the TV documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle as "one of the best and most controversial programmes I've ever seen on television, particularly for those who don't like being spoonfed by Al Gore".^[3]

Nigel Evans voted against the introduction of the National Minimum Wage in 1999 by opposing the National Minimum Wage Act of 1998. He voted against every increase in the minimum wage thereafter and in 2009 became one of 11 MPs to back the Employment Opportunities Bill, which aimed to make the minimum wage optional, but was defeated in Parliament.^[4]

Evans came off relatively lightly in the expenses scandal, being ranked as the 570th most expensive MP out of the 646 MPs in the UK Parliament.^[5] However, criticism was drawn when it emerged that he was claiming £375 a month on phone bills and had bought four digital cameras in 18 months.^[6] Evans later drew criticism by being recorded saying that he struggled to live on his salary of over £64,000 per year. He issued a statement saying the comments were made in jest.^[7]

On 8 June 2010 Nigel Evans was elected First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. This was the first time the three Deputy Speakers had been elected by secret ballot of all MPs.^[8]

Personal life

On 18 December 2010 Evans revealed to The Mail on Sunday that he was gay, saying that he was fed up with living his life as a lie.^[9]

On the morning of 4 May 2013 Nigel Evans was arrested, at his home in Pendleton, by the Lancashire Constabulary on suspicion of raping one man and sexually assaulting another, between July 2009 and March 2013. He was released later the same day on police bail until 19 June.^[10][11] The following morning Evans denied the allegations saying the complaints were "completely false" and had been made by two men who were "until yesterday ... regarded as friends".^[12][13] On 20 May 2013 Police searched Evans' House of Commons office in connection with "a serious arrestable offence".^[14] One assault was alleged to have occurred within the House of Commons. ^[15] On 19 June 2013, Evans was arrested on suspicion of three more counts of indecent assault.^[16]

On 10 September 2013 it was announced that he was to be charged with eight sexual offences which include rape and sexual assault, allegedly committed between January 2002 and April 2013. The following day he announced his resignation as deputy speaker and denied any wrongdoing.^[17] He also announced that he would continue to sit as a backbench MP, but would not take the Conservative whip.^[18]

He made his first court appearance on 18 September, where the charges against him were read out in full. He did not make any formal plea, but said outside the court that he protested his innocence.^[19] On 4 October he appeared before Preston Crown Court where he was told his trial date had been provisionally booked for 10 March 2014. Mr Evans remains on police bail and is set to make his next appearance at the Crown Court on 24 January 2014, where it is expected he will plead Not Guilty to all allegations made against him. It is unlikely that any of the defendant's Ribble Valley constituents will be among members of the Jury.^[20][21]

References

External links

• Nigel Evans MP official site
• ePolitix.com – Nigel Evans MP
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Nigel Evans MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Nigel Evans MP
• The Public Whip – Nigel Evans MP voting record
• BBC News – Nigel Evans MP profile 24 March 2005

Offices held