Robert John Emlyn Evans (born 23 October 1956) is a British

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

politician who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) from

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

until

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. He was first elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

for London North West, and then in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

for the London constituency. He has been a Surrey county councillor for the Stanwell and Stanwell Moor ward since 2013.

Early life and career

Robert John Emlyn Evans was born in 1956 in Ashford, then in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, now in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. He was educated at Ashford County Grammar School before gaining a

BEd A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

and MA from the

Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to m ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He then became a teacher and, at the time of his election to the European Parliament, he was head of Crane Junior School in

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...

Political career

Evans was elected to the

for London North West in the

1994 European Parliament election The 1994 European Parliamentary election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994. This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall number ...

, having previously stood unsuccessfully in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. He sat with the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...

group and sat on the European Parliament's

Committee on Transport and Tourism The Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair is the French MEP Karima Delli of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. Research service The Committee is directly supported by ...

. His main achievement was to create a new Europe-wide law to outlaw discrimination against disabled passengers when travelling by air. He was a substitute for the

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

, chair of the delegation for relations with the countries of

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

and was also closely involved with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

. From 1999 to 2004 he was vice-chairman of the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs. From 2004 to 2007 he was chairman of the

European Parliamentary Labour Party The European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP) was the parliamentary party of the British Labour Party in the European Parliament. The EPLP was part of the pan-European Group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), (with MEPs from sister parties such as ...

. Evans was an election observer for the European Parliament, and was chair of the mission to observe the Pakistan elections in 2008 and EU Chief Observer to Cambodia in 2003. Evans announced in November 2008 that he would not be seeking re-election to the European Parliament in 2009. He has since been an independent consultant and freelance advisor to various MPs, MEPs, to CAMS College in Hayes, and with his special expertise in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

to the charities BRAC, London Tigers and the Brussels-based, NGO Shipbreaking. Additionally he is a part-time lecturer at Royal Holloway College, London University. Evans stood unsuccessfully for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as the Labour Party's candidate in East Berkshire in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, and later in the

2003 Brent East by-election A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Brent East on 18 September 2003, following the death of Labour Party MP Paul Daisley on 18 June that year. It was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Teather. The Lib ...

. Brent East was previously a safe seat for the Labour Party, and had been held by

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...

before Evans lost to the Liberal Democrats. Evans was awarded an honorary doctorate by

Brunel University London Brunel University London is a Public university, public Research universities, research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian era, Victorian engineer and pioneer of the I ...

in 1998. Evans is a Vice President of the League Against Cruel Sports, a trustee of BRAC-UK, and of the Brussels-based South Asian charity, NGO Shipbreaking Platform. He is a Life Member of Ashford Cricket Club, Cambridge University Cricket Club, and a long-standing member of Ashford Middlesex Hockey Club, MCC and Middlesex County Cricket Club. In November 2012, Evans was Labour's candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner in

. On 2 May 2013, he was elected Surrey County Councillor for the Stanwell and Stanwell Moor ward. As a Surrey county councillor, Evans has campaigned in favour of public services, particularly the retention of his local fire station, Staines Fire Station in Stanwell. He campaigned against a third runway at Heathrow Airport and in favour of the airport being "better not bigger". In May 2014, Evans proposed a successful vote to achieve

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, As ...

status for Surrey – the first county in the south of England to do so. The change was opposed by the Conservative leader of many years' standing. Despite being a lone Labour councillor, Evans has achieved a string of successes at County Council level, including persuading Surrey to oppose a return to grammar schools, to acknowledge and congratulate

Sadiq Khan Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...

on being elected in 2016 as

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...

and to adopt the

Co-operative Party The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fair ...

charter against modern slavery. He was profiled by the political journalist, Richard Heller on politics.co.uk, Evans was re-elected to this seat in May 2017 with an 11% increase in his vote on what was otherwise a disappointing night for Labour. He was again comfortably re-elected with an increased vote in 2021. During the lockdown period from 2020 – 2022, Evans studied part time for an MSc in South Asian politics at

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

, University of London. He was awarded his degree with merit. Evans was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for political and public service.

Personal life

He speaks French, Spanish and is learning Bengali.

References

External links

Robert Evans
(Twitter account) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Robert 1956 births Alumni of the University of London Living people English people of Welsh descent Labour Co-operative MEPs MEPs for England 1994–1999 MEPs for England 2004–2009 People educated at Ashford County Grammar School Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Early life and career

Political career

Personal life

See also

References

External links