Senior Conservative Party lawmaker Nigel Evans refutes rape, sexual assault allegations

LONDON – A senior British Conservative Party politician says allegations against him of rape and sexual assault are "completely false."

Deputy House of Commons Speaker Nigel Evans, 55, was arrested on Saturday. He was questioned about sex offenses that allegedly took place between July 2009 and March 2013 and was later released on bail.

Evans — who has served in Parliament for two decades — says the allegations were made by "two people well known to each other" and who until recently he had regarded as friends, even socializing with one accuser last week.

He said in a brief statement Sunday that "the complaints are completely false" and he "cannot understand why they have been made."

Evans, from Lancashire, northwest England, was elected in June 2010 as one of three deputy speakers.