David John Evans (23 April 1935 – 22 October 2008) was an English businessman, football club chairman and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Biography

Born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

in London, Evans came from a

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

background and attended

Tottenham Technical College Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthamst ...

. He failed his

eleven-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic ...

and as a youngster he showed promise as a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and played for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, although without making any first-team appearances, between 1950 and 1954. An opening batsman, he also played for

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire have always ...

and

Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire. Its T20 team is called the Birmingham Bears. Founde ...

at cricket, although, again, without making any first-team appearances. In 1960 Evans borrowed £500 to found his own industrial cleaning company, called Exclusive Office Cleaning, which later became Brengreen Holdings. He sold this for £32 million in 1986. Four years later, in 1990, he formed Broadreach, another industrial cleaning company, of which he was chairman for 12 years.

Luton Town

Evans served on the

Luton Town Football Club Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

's board of directors from 1977 to 22 May 1990 when he resigned. From November 1984 to 15 June 1989, Evans was the chairman of the club. The club played in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

during Evans' tenure as chairman, and he presided over a controversial membership-only scheme for fans under which only members were allowed to attend matches at the club's home ground and away supporters were banned from the stadium. This was brought about by

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

fans rioting and damaging the Kenilworth Road stadium during an FA Cup match against Luton on 13 March 1985. Evans was also chairman of the

Lord's Taverners The Lord's Taverners is the UK's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. Its charitable objective is to empower and positively impact the lives of young people facing the challenges of inequality.'. It was founded in 1950 by a group ...

, along with being a member of the Finance and Administration Sub-Committee (1981–1986) and a member of the General Committee (1985–86) of

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

. As a cricketer, he represented

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

in the

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

Championship between 1967 and 1968, made two Gillette Cup appearances for the team in 1969, scoring ten runs on his debut but a duck in his second match. He also made two appearances for Club Cricket Conference, the first in 1973 and the second in 1974.

Member of Parliament

Evans represented

Welwyn Hatfield The Borough of Welwyn Hatfield is a local government district in southern Hertfordshire, England, governed by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. It covers the two towns of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with numerous smaller settlements ...

as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from 1987, until he lost his seat at the 1997 general election. During his time as an MP, Evans was parliamentary private secretary to several government ministers, including

John Redwood Sir John Alan Redwood (born 15 June 1951) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wokingham in Berkshire since 1987. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Secretary of State for Wales in the Major government ...

when he was Secretary of State for Wales. Evans was elected to the executive of the influential

1922 Committee The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The committee, consisting of all Conservative backbench member ...

in 1993 and he remained there until leaving Parliament in March 1997. After losing his seat in Parliament, he continued to manage his industrial cleaning business, the Broadreach Group. He retired in May 2002 when he and his business partner Jack Broadley sold it for around £17 million.

Birmingham Six

Shortly before losing his seat, in early March 1997, he attracted controversy over unguarded remarks in an interview by sixth-formers at Stanborough School for a school magazine in which he referred to his opponent

Melanie Johnson Melanie Jane Johnson (born 5 February 1955) is a Labour politician in the United Kingdom. Early life Johnson was born in Ipswich. She attended the Independent Clifton High School in Clifton, Bristol. Leaving Bristol for London, she studied at ...

as a "single girl" (she was 42 years old at the time) with "bastard children", and claimed that the

Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Cou ...

were guilty and had "killed hundreds" before being caught, as well as making remarks considered racist, such as asking how the sixth-formers would feel if their daughter was raped by "some black bastard". The Six won substantial damages from Evans in July 1998, who thereafter apologised for what he had said and promised never to repeat it.

Death

David Evans died aged 73 in the USA on 22 October 2008, of

pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failu ...

. He was married to Janice Evans who died on 9 August 2016 aged 79.

Quotes

*"Scarcely any ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' or ''

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

'' article involving David Evans, former Tory MP for Welwyn and Hatfield, failed to mention his car-salesman's accent, a sound to chill the blood of any liberal—it seemed the incarnation of Thatcherite brutalism."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, David British business executives Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English cricketers English footballers Association football wing halves Hendon F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Hertfordshire cricketers People from Edmonton, London UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 1935 births 2008 deaths Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis 20th-century British businesspeople