Bob Stewart MP on Nigel Evans court case and costs

Conservative MP Bob Stewart said his friend Nigel Evans has "been through the mill" in the court case where a jury cleared him on a string of sex abuse charges, including one of rape.

The Tory MP said the deputy speaker "may be silly, but he's no bully" and reckoned the case should not have been brought.

Mr Stewart said Mr Evans, for whom he testified, was worried about the cost of the case, but hoped he would stand in 2015, but was unlikely to take on the role of deputy speaker again in the short term.

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