No one can ever recover from being wrongly accused of sexual assault, which is why I welcomed the government’s plan to ‘extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants‘. Turns out that Coalition Agreement pledge was a blunder: the Tories thought it was a Liberal Democrat idea and vice versa. When they worked out that neither of them wanted it, the idea was dropped – even though three-quarters of the public back it.
Had this policy been introduced we might not know that Nigel Evans, a Tory MP and deputy speaker, was last night released on bail after being held on suspicion of raping one man and sexually assaulting another. He has not been charged but a man publicly accused of such an offence can expect his life, as he knew it, to end. Whether innocent or guilty, Evans’ political career is effectively over. He will probably have to resign as Deputy Speaker, and perhaps even as an MP, before guilt is proven or disproven.
Is this unfair? Only if he’s innocent – and, like everyone else, I don’t have the faintest idea about his case.
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