Making Plans for Nigel Evans MP...My personal Litmus Test

I came in last night and switched on the news. There was Nigel Evans MP being interviewed on Theresa May's new cabinet. Nigel was in his element he was in ecstasy in fact. He presented the new cabinet as a group of swashbuckling Elizabethan defending a prosperous island set in a silver sea.

I go along way back with Nigel we were in the Sixth Form together at Dynevor Comprehensive in Swansea. In those day Nigel was in the Upper Sixth and I was in the lower. The Upper Sixth was a Thatcherite cabal, the lower sixth a group of Marxists, radicals and rebels. tbe school debating society was the acne of multiple ideological clashes. I remember speaking against Nigel on the issue of International aid and dramatically throwing down a few coins and shouting out in all his glory Nigel Evans would take a few coins from a starving family. I was very dramatic in those days..some would say that I still am. In those days Nigel's family ran a newsagents in Graiglwyd Square in Townhill, the large council estate in Swansea. We were however somewhat surprised when we heard Nigel telling people he lived in Cockett.

Nigel has always been an odd sort of litmus test over the the last 40 years. I have always found myself in an opposed position, thought or analysis from him. We even went to the same University in Swansea and I have vivid memories of the establishment of a popular front to defeat Nigel from becoming student union president. We all all backed David griffiths sf Nigel was defeated by a couple of hundred votes, Another time I was drinking in Mumbles with Steve Tarbet and we bumped into Nigel he invited us to have drinks with him in the Conservative Club and being rather pissed we agreed. In those days I was Chairperson of the Welsh League of Young Liberals and left stickers all over the Conservative club. Nigel was horrified and followed be around doing his best to remove them. I remember a speech he made urging privatisation of the bus services. He said and I remember it clearly that there will be numerous buses chasing passenger around Swansea instead of people chasing buses. I remember his trip to Cuba as a representative of the Students unuin. And those of you interested might like to read an old Evening Post article about some “brave young Conservative” being bullied by “Marxist Thugs” on the way back to the UK. I have a clear memory of Steve Tarbet and I taking a picture of Nigel Evans when working as a bar man in the old Townsman club and our friend John Wallen publishing in the student Union magazine Crefft under the title “I'm practising getting pissed for Cuba.”

But I digress. I use Nigel as an illustration of the ebbs and flows of right wing ideology and prejudice. When I saw him last night I saw a clear hint of where we go next. The feel I get is one of great distaste. Nigel stands at the joining line between the prejudice of UKIP and the raw unpleasant empiricism of the Tory party. I write this on Thursday morning. I hope that Nigel is not going to be the next Welsh Secretary of State. He has beeb shadow secretary but I would rather hope that he was just the message boy of the stern unyielding Brexiteers, the spokesperson of their aims and philosophy. When I think about Nigel as a litmus test I think about how he and I represent the different traditions that have battled over the last 45 years. Nigel has a certainty that disturbs me, an outlook that is simplistic . He once said to me "Well Martyn you see I am a Christian so you would not understand", I asked hum a number of questions about theology and philosophy . He looked back with uncomprehending and bemused expression.

And here we stand in this post Brexirt moment . The models of political are all multiple and molten and unclear. I have no idea where I will be politically in sixth months, what the shape of politics will be, what the political parties will be called. If Scotland will be free...if we will be looking at the beginning of a united Ireland. But my old litmus test will be there. He will be showing no sense of interest in the tensions between Socrates and Abraham, he will never have read Nietzsche, he will have no interest in the mystery of life. His views have not changed since he was 18. I am constantly changing my interpretation and thoughts in my Defoe like life. But I am sure that Nigel will be there acting as a measure for by position and outlook. He is only making plans for Nigel........

We're only making plans for Nigel
We only want what's best for him
We're only making plans for Nigel
Nigel just needs that helping hand

And if young Nigel says he's happy
He must be happy
He must be happy
He must be happy in his work

We're only making plans for Nigel
He has his future in a British steel
We're only making plans for Nigel
Nigel's whole future is as good as sealed, yeah

And if young Nigel says he's happy
He must be happy
He must be happy
He must be happy in his work

Nigel is not outspoken
But he likes to speak
And loves to be spoken to (in his world)
Nigel is happy in his work (in his world)
Nigel is happy in his work (in his world)

We're only making plans for Nigel
We only want what's best for him
We're only making plans for Nigel