Nigel Evans interview: why we need anonymity for rape suspects

It’s been one year since Nigel Evans’s local Conservative party agreed to let him stand again in the general election, nearly 18 months since he was acquitted of charges of rape and sexual assault, and four months since he was duly re-elected as MP for the Ribble Valley. But the former deputy speaker is still trying to put his life back together. I visited the 57-year-old Conservative MP in his Lancashire home and it’s obvious from our conversation that the allegations have had a huge impact on his life — and not a positive one.

‘Each day, I’m improving,’ he says. ‘It’s not absolutely perfect. I still go back over things which I should let go. I still get a bit moody on thinking of things that have gone past. But every day it gets better.’ Though he refuses to change the way he lives, he says ‘nothing will ever be the same again’.