LONDON, May 4 (UPI) -- The deputy speaker of the British House of Commons was arrested Saturday on suspicion of raping two men, Conservative officials.
Police took Nigel Evans, 55, to a police station for questioning and searched his house in Pendleton and his car, The Guardian reported. He was released on bail later in the day.
Evans has represented Ribble Vale in Lancashire since 1992 as a Conservative. He went public about his sexual orientation in 2010, the year he became deputy speaker.
"Nigel is a popular and well-liked character. No one can quite believe what's happened," said John Bercow, the Commons speaker.
Brian Binley, another Conservative MP, said he was "deeply shocked."
"I've known him ever since I've been in Parliament and I came in in 2005. I consider him to be a very good friend," Binley said. "I know him to be caring, compassionate and in no way would he inflict himself violently on any other person. I just hope and pray that this thing is cleared up sooner rather than later."
A police statement did not identify Evans by name. It said a 55-year-old man was being questioned about offenses that allegedly took place between 2009 and 2013.
Evans, originally from Wales, was Prime Minister John Major's spokesman on Welsh affairs in the 1990s and served as a parliamentary secretary. He is known as a euroskeptic who is generally on his party's right-wing.
When he went public about his sexuality, he said he had not done so earlier because "growing up in the '60s it just wasn't done."
