Injustice: Gambo, Cliff and Nigel Unite!

Sir Cliff Richard, Paul Gambaccini and Nigel Evans will campaign for a change in law to protect the anonymity of those accused of sexual assault and rape.

The singer, broadcaster and MP met in Surrey over the weekend to discuss plans to set up a victims support group, to highlight 'the unnecessary pain and suffering' felt by those wrongly accused, and to campaign for anonymity for sexual assault defendants before charge.

Nigel Evans, who was acquitted of nine charges of rape and sexual assault in 2014, said: “We have got common ground but there are also a load of other people we have common ground with… some are famous before it happens, others become famous because of it... And if we can do without [and] other countries can, why don’t we just get on with it?”

English law protected the identity of rape defendants until the 1980’s and several European countries, such as Germany, ensure anonymity until conviction...

Telegraph.

Nigel Evans is probably a bit of an old lech, but who ain't, it's not a crime.

Bryan Singer: A Statement

“The allegations against me are outrageous, vicious and completely false. I do not want these fictitious claims to divert ANY attention from ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past.’ This fantastic film is a labor of love and one of the greatest experiences of my career. So, out of respect to all of the extraordinary contributions from the incredibly talented actors and crew involved, I’ve decided not to participate in the upcoming media events for the film. However, I promise when this situation is over, the facts will show this to be the sick twisted shake down it is. I want to thank fans, friends and family for all their amazing and overwhelming support.”

Via Variety, who give the background to this story.

Post the acquittal of Nigel Evans et al I wouldn't rush to judge on this.
Though certain American gay media are merrily twerking on Singer's grave.

There are some rather big holes appearing in his accuser's story already.
But I can think of one British journalist who's probably working on an article about how this proves his idea about gay culture's hidden rapeyness...

Update: See also Gay men of Hollywood, just as bad as straight ones - The Advocate.
A piece of fact-free and unsubstantiated salacious gossip masquerading as an op-ed.

Black Dog: You Are Andrew Pierce And I Claim My £5!

Mail Online.

Sarah Wollaston: Blogger Off

A prominent Tory backbencher has hit out at “aggressive male bloggers” who, she claims, target female MPs.

Sarah Wollaston said that certain parts of the political blogosphere were “quite aggressive in their approach towards women”, particularly when discussing sexual violence or gender. “If you stick your head above the parapet you can expect some quarters of the aggressive blogging community to go for you,” she said.

Dr Wollaston, the Totnes MP, faced a barrage of criticism last week after Nigel Evans, the deputy speaker, was cleared of a string of sex charges. One of the alleged victims was in a Westminster bar with the former GP when an “off-the-cuff” remark about an alleged assault triggered a sequence of events that led to the court case. Dr Wollaston was contacted by a second man — a friend of the first — who alleged that he had been raped.

The MP listened to their complaints and took them to John Bercow, the Speaker, who said that he could not help. She then passed on police contact details to the alleged victims, who contacted the officers, prompting the arrest last year of Mr Evans.

The acquittal of the MP for Ribble Valley led to accusations that Dr Wollaston had put pressure on the accusers to complain. She responded with an article entitled “Why am I being blamed for Nigel Evans sex case?” in which she argued that she had an ethical duty to take their claims seriously...

She singled out The Daily Telegraph writer Dan Hodges, the libertarian blog Guido Fawkes, and the Tory publisher and writer Iain Dale, saying that she had been reading their “really quite aggressive attacks” about her handling of the allegations...

The Times.

Let's have a look at what those really quite aggressive bullying male bloggers wrote...

YEAH! AND ALL THAT!'
Poor lay-out though.
OR  N?

Iain Dale, Conservative Home “She no doubt felt she was exercising a duty of care towards the man who cried rape. She clearly believed his story, but today she must also be asking herself if she acted properly throughout this sorry saga.”

Dan Hodges, The Daily Telegraph “Partly because of her actions, a wholly innocent man had his reputation destroyed and his career ruined and now faces crippling debts to cover the cost of his legal fees”

Paul Staines, Guido Fawkes “Did she, as Evans implies, have an ulterior motive? [She said:] ‘I reject that idea entirely.’ Many of Wollaston’s colleagues disagree...”

NB Out of these three men at least two are gay and two are Tories. Just putting that out there...

Patrick Strudwick: Himself A Victim

A spectacularly stupid article by Britain's leading gay hysteric, Patrick Strudwick ('himself a victim of such behaviour'), in The Independent.

Reports of the [Nigel Evans] trial picked up that the accusers "did not consider themselves victims". And the verdict was clear – Evans was found not guilty. It called to mind, however, innumerable young men I have met on the gay scene over the last 20 years, men who have been abused but who do not consider themselves victims, do not attach words such as "rape" or "sexual assault" to their experiences, do not feel able to wield consent, and do not think they can complain, or report it...

Eh? Maybe, y'know, they said they didn't consider themselves victims because they didn't actually consider themselves victims, you professional victim.

Earlier this week, I asked on Facebook [!] for gay men's attitudes and experiences of non-consensual sexual acts. I was inundated with responses. Some spoke of the mild end of the spectrum. "There have been a few times when a snog has been forced upon me," says Liam, 31, who said that, in those instances, he laughed and pushed them off, adding: "I know very few people who would actually make a fuss. I don't want to offend anyone."

The story of another man, in his twenties, conveys the confusion over how to categorise such experiences. "Some dude kept grabbing my neck. I told him politely to go away and he kept doing it, then touching my bum, following me to the toilet, to the point where I told him to fuck off. It's like, because it's a gay club, you have to shag everything. Wasn't an assault but was non-consensual."

The first person to comment under my Facebook status said: "Someone touching you up or grabbing your arse etc without consent isn't assault, how ridiculous."

Isn't it? But wait, Smugtwit has the law on his side!

PS Independent April 21st.

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 states that a sexual assault occurs if "he (A) intentionally touches another person (B), the touching is sexual, B does not consent to the touching, and A does not reasonably believe that B consents".

Another respondent agreed: "We've all been touched up occasionally – if you're not interested, you just slap their hand away."

For many gay men, derided and dehumanised by a hostile culture, and then steeped in the values that have surrounded them in a counter-culture built on trauma, someone touching a private part of their body, uninvited, becomes normality, not an assault, with the onus on them to deal with it. The results can be devastating.

The full horror of our rapey gay culture exposed, there.

I guess Mr Strudwick wants cops to start patrolling our clubs, arresting anyone being too fruity?

This is one of those all-too familiar articles about the gay scene, that will be unrecognisable to anyone familiar with the gay scene, but will horrify those - like the author - who know fuck all about it.

And, once more, we see that the best way to sell a feature about gay men to a national newspaper is to massively exaggerate a problem, and pathologise gay men.

Give us your white straight middle-classes, yearning to be oppressed.

What a fucking idiotic hysterical dickwad.

Some headless gay men getting ready to sexually assault each other.

PS I asked a gay man who works in the House of Commons if the descriptions of drunken gay debauchery at Westminster bars sounded recognisable.

No, the worst behaviour I have seen in bars in parliament is from straight people. The vast majority of gay MPs are 'married' and very boring. And those are the ones getting emails from constituents asking about "gay orgies".

Still waiting for Channel 4 News to answer my query about their Sexminster 'survey' of 70 people.

Update: This email just in!

Our Managing Editor has requested I respond to you per below.

“The survey work on the “Palace of Sexminster” investigation was undertaken by the Channel 4 News investigative unit and was conducted over a period of time building up trust with the individuals. They were all people who are currently working within parliament and were considered to be a representative sample including both men and women.”

I hope that this answers your query.

Kind regards,

Yours sincerely

Catherine Chapman
Channel4 News

Not really, no. My main gripe remains; the sample is so small - and self-selected - it's totally unscientific.

The Sun: Sex Trial MP Hope To Marry

The Sun.

The quotes have been lovingly lifted from this interview with the Lancashire Telegraph.

PS In her Daily Express column, Ann Widdecombe, defends Nigel Evans et al - but then goes on to defend gay cure therapy.

Sarah Wollaston: Great Mysteries Of Our Time

Daily Telegraph.

Why on earth, Dr Sarah? Why on earth?

There soon came a reply from Dan Hodges on Telegraph blogs...

Oh yeah, I forgot about that bit.

Jones/Pierce: Twitter Bitch Fight Of The Week

Via Guido Fawkes.

Hilarious.

The increasingly pious Owen Jones has cried homophobia over some of the comments - but what do you expect from the right-wing cunts who post on there?

And she's been accused of far worse on there...

Fagburn: That's Enough Gay Tories!

Fagburn's had enough of writing about gay Tories this month.

Let's just remember the good old days when the Conservative Party was a queen-free zone.

Nigel Evans: Oops!

Thanks to Stewart. x

Here's Mr Evans' voting record on key bills.

PS Iain Dale is doing an half hour interview with Nigel Evans at 5pm on LBC - trust gay Tory Iain will ask gay Tory Nigel about this.

PPS You can watch Evans/Dale here. Watching an interview on the wireless - how modern!

Nigel Evans: Celebrity Suicide Watch

Sunday Mirror.

Nigel Evans calls for review of anonymity rules in sexual assault cases Independent On Sunday.

And here's an 'emotional interview' with the Mail On Sunday.

‘Twelve independent people looked at the evidence and said it just didn’t stack up. I am not going to stand trial by the Press with anonymous people throwing any allegations they like.’

Surely this didn't include the Mail?

Evans notes the case only arose as his fellow Tory MP, Sarah Wollaston, complained about his behaviour to the Speaker, and told the men they must go to the police.

Worth noting that Public Whip give her 100% on voting for gay equality.

Unlike our new Minister for Equalities, Sajid Javin (74%)

Or err... Nigel Evans (68%).

Mail On Sunday: Gay Man Uses Grindr Shocker!

Mail On Sunday.

Drop me a line if you know how this is in anyway newsworthy.

'Man likes sex shocker'.

There was no 'orgy'.

Beyond the Mail On Sunday have tasted gay blood after going for Paul Flowers, and now can't quit.

What scum - we're going back to the 80s, boys.

Wish they'd stop - Fagburn's fed up with defending gay Tories.

Politics: The Palace Of Sexminster!

A senior Conservative official has resigned amid concerns over the culture in Parliament exposed by the trial of Nigel Evans, the former Deputy Speaker.

Iain Corby, a former head of the Policy Research Unit, which provides support to 270 Conservative MPs, stood down earlier this month to look for a position in the private sector.

Mr Corby testified at the trial of Mr Evans after being one of several senior Conservative Party figures who was approached in 2009 by a young Tory researcher who claimed that the former Deputy Speaker acted improperly.

Although Mr Evans was cleared of all charges earlier this week, his prosecution highlighted the culture of excessive drinking between some MPs and young male researchers in Parliamentary bars.

The Conservative Party praised Mr Corby’s work and his “excellent leadership”. However, there is growing concern about the “louche” culture that may have developed within the unit...A survey for Channel Four News claimed that a third of the young men and women working in Parliament — nicknamed “the palace of sexminster” — had suffered sexual harassment. One worker, who did not want to be identified, said he was “asked to go to the gents by a certain MP who had always been a nice guy”.

Daily Telegraph.

Oh, it was him then...

In case you missed it it's Ian Corby!

Update: Tories ‘black book of sleaze’ and how they destroyed all evidence of MPs’ wrongdoing. Daily Mirror.

The Independent: Exclusive

The Independent understands concerns were raised with senior Tory officials after the gay networking application Grindr was used to “advertise” the party which took place during the Conservative Party conference in 2011.

While there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on behalf of anyone involved, it follows revelations in yesterday’s Independent that a number of Conservative MPs regularly got drunk, “flirted” and made passes at young male parliamentary workers during Commons drinking sessions. The Independent has been told that some of these researchers may have worked for the PRU...

The Independent.

Trying to figure out what the story is here.

Oh, it's The Independent, there is none.

How the Mail On Sunday broke this last week.

PS Textbook straight gay bollocks in The Times; Evans affair sheds light on the new spirit of gay liberation in the Westminster village.

Channel 4 News: Rubbish Survey

Channel 4 News has been investigating sexual harassment in Parliament. We spoke to 70 people hailing from all political parties and sexual orientations, and found that this is something that's really part of the fabric.

Researchers from Firecrest Films discovered that a third had personally experienced sexual harassment which they saw as an abuse of power. A further 21 per cent told us they had witnessed someone else being sexually harassed, or that a friend had confided in them. And less than a half (46 per cent), said they had no first or second-hand knowledge of such behaviour.

The people we spoke to didn't want to talk on camera, because they were too fearful of blighting a nascent political career. But here's what they told us. "At an event for young political activists I was asked to go to the gents by a certain MP who had always been a nice guy. I just brushed it off.

"The MP suggested I go to the toilets with him at about 1am, but then at 3am I saw him going back to his hotel room with a guy who looked about 18," one said.

"He invited the office to a gay bar, and came up to me and put his arm around my shoulder. Then one time he slid his hand right down my back, and I moved it away," said another.

Our investigation revealed that young men are more likely to get harassed than women. Some 40 per cent of men we spoke to had received unwanted sexual advances. One woman watched it happening.

"I watched men coming on to men, and men hiring men that they wanted to sleep with. I saw male MPs and researchers having relationships.

"When I was there, older men would explore their sexuality and be predatory to younger men."

Channel 4 News.

Much quoted, though they only spoke to 70 people - that number again SEVENTY! - presumably a self-selected group who answered an email about sexual harrasment at Westminster, none of whom would talk on camera, so it's about as scientific as the magical powers of kryptonite.

(Have sent various messages to Channel 4 asking how they found the respondents, no reply thus far).

Nigel Evans: Innocent Until...

And how the Mail covered it...

FFS.

Nigel Evans: Cleared

What an utter farce this was.

As before, if those were criminal charges, then we're all guilty.

PS Nigel Evans: Swansea-born Tory was 'God's little joke' BBC News profile.

PPS How case against Nigel Evans fell apart The prosecution case against Nigel Evans, the former Commons deputy speaker, began to fall apart as soon as his accusers entered the witness box. One by one, the young men trooped into Preston crown court and said they did not consider themselves victims of any criminal offence, nor had they wanted to complain to police... The Guardian.

PPPS Boozy attempts at seduction, and now a career in ruins: Tory MPs fear Nigel Evans will not have stomach to continue after next election Andrew Pierce in the Mail - actually pretty much a rehashed version of this profile from a year ago.

Nigel Evans: De Profundis

MP Nigel Evans told a jury yesterday he was being depicted as “a cross between Alan Clark, Benny Hill and Oscar Wilde”.

The ex-Commons deputy speaker, who denies sexually abusing seven young men and a rape, said the charges were “ridiculous”.

Evans, 56, is accused of putting his hands down the trousers of two men.

Mark Heywood, cross-examining, said: “Was this you using hands where words were not available to you?”

Evans replied: “No. It is trying to make me out to be a cross between Alan Clark (the late Tory politician), Benny Hill and Oscar Wilde. It’s ridiculous. The answer is no.”

The gay MP said the accusations had ended his hopes of being Commons speaker.

The trial at Preston Crown Court continues tomorrow.

The Sun.

Repeat: So much of this case just stinks.

Fagburn - and you, yes you - could probably be charged with some of the 'crimes' he's been accused of. 

Nigel Evans: Hmmm...

The Guardian.

Fagburn's two cents: This is all starting to look rather rum.

Actually, it looks like a Tory party stitch-up.

The Independent: Decisions, Decisions...

A headline in The Independent last Tuesday caused some consternation by describing the trial of Tory MP Nigel Evans thus: “Tories ‘knew about senior MP’s gay sex assault – but kept it quiet before election’”.

Why, asked a couple of readers, did we think it necessary to include the word “gay” there? An alleged sex assault is an alleged sex assault: the law does not distinguish between male victims and female victims, same-sex or contra-sex incidents. In a case where the alleged targets were women, we would surely not refer in our headline to claims of a ‘straight sex assault’, would we? That, I am afraid, is unarguable. In the final analysis, we made an error of judgement. But the issue is not without nuance.

The primary purposes of a headline are to sum up the crux of the story and to draw the audience into reading more. In this instance, it is a simple fact of the trial that the accused is a man and that his alleged victims are men. By adding “gay” to the headline, we conveyed that information...

Will Gore, deputy managing editor of The Independent, Independent Voices.

Fagburn is slightly confused - but also as they say somewhat 'conflicted' - by this circular argument.
You flag it up as 'gay' because it is newsworthy, and its newsworthy because it is unusual...
Oh, and shouldn't it be 'sexual assaults against men' anyway?

Update: 'The Conservative transport secretary told a young man who accused Nigel Evans of sexual assault that it was a "huge demand" for the alleged victim to demand Evans step down as an MP as punishment, a court has heard...

'[Patrick] McLoughlin said he warned Evans to be very careful in future about who he socialised with and urged him to consider coming out as gay. Asked why, he said: "My thinking was that he had got himself into an awkward situation and it would be best to be open about these sort of things."

The Guardian.