Evans court case raises several issues
If someone told you that they had been sexually assaulted, would you laugh it off?
Nigel Evans, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, has been cleared of a series of sexual assaults and one rape after a court case that raised several issues of public interest.
The jury unanimously accepted that his behaviour had been “over-friendly, inappropriate behaviour by a drunken man” rather than a criminal offence.
Among the complainants in this case were two young parliamentary researchers whom the Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston had helped contact the police.
Since Evans’s acquittal, Wollaston has faced “rank hostility” from other MPs, including fellow Consrvatives some of whom have demanded she apologise and reflect on her role in the case.
Her critics have included Anne Widdecombe, who gave a testimonial during the trial saying Evans was “truthful, considerate, kind and gentle”.
On Newsnight, Widdecombe said: “I think the fact that somebody makes the odd drunken pass does not make them a rapist, and I never believed the allegations that were made.”
But Wollaston has defended her decision, saying she had no choice but to go to the police after the internal disciplinary process failed and the Conservative Whips’ office brushed the matter the two were complaining about “under the carpet”.
Wollaston said she would step down if the two researchers she helped had felt pressured by her to contact the police, but said that “they were both very clear with me that they had not felt that I had pressured them”.
Addressing her critics directly, she said: “To them, I ask this: what would you do if, in a social setting, someone told you that they had been sexually assaulted by one of your most popular colleagues?
“Would you have laughed off the allegation, or brushed it aside? I did not.”
Another issue raised by this case has been whether or not there is a culture of ‘drink-fuelled promiscuity’ at the Commons.
A poll conducted by Channel 4 News of young men and women working in parliament found that 40 per cent of men they questioned had received unwanted sexual advances and a third had experienced sexual harassment.
Evans, who has said he never behaved inappropriately towards the complainants or could not recollect the events, denounced the portrayal of Westminster as debauched, but the Conservative Party has nonetheless said it would now ask all its MPs to sign up to a new code of conduct setting out their rights and responsibilities as employers. There will also be a new party grievance procedure for staff.
Evans’ acquittal has also led to further questions being asked of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and its handling of sex offences.
Evans has said the anonymity of complainants in sex offence cases should be re-examined, something the coalition government had pledged to do but later dropped over concerns it would prevent victims coming forward.
David Davis, the former shadow Home Secretary, has suggested the practice of using lesser charges to “reinforce” a more serious one should be looked into.
But, as Wollaston said, “MPs should not use this case as a pretext to interfere with the independence of the CPS” and that it should not be made harder for potential victims to come forward.