The Lord Evans of Sealand | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2025 | |
| General Secretary of the Labour Party | |
| In office 25 September 2021 – 17 September 2024 | |
| Leader | Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Jennie Formby |
| Succeeded by | Hollie Ridley |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 17 January 2025 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David Richard Evans February 1961 (age 64–65) Chester, England |
| Party | Labour |
| Spouse | Aline Delawa |
| Education | St Olave's Grammar School |
| Alma mater | University of York |
David Richard Evans, Baron Evans of Sealand (born February 1961), is a British politician who served asgeneral secretary of the Labour Party from September 2021 to September 2024, having acted as general secretary since May 2020. He served as an assistant general secretary of theLabour Party from 1999 to 2001. Evans was the regional director of the North West Labour Party from 1995 to 1999 and founded The Campaign Company, a political consultancy. He has been a member of theHouse of Lords since 2025.
Evans was born in February 1961 inChester, moving toLondon when he was three.[1][2] He attended the selectiveSt Olave's Grammar School between 1972 and 1979.[3] He was an activist during theminers' strike of 1984–85, during which time he was arrested "for something like highway obstruction as he delivered a food parcel to the striking miners".[4]
He served as a Labour councillor inCroydon from 1986 to 1990.[5] He was regional secretary of the Labour Party for North West England from 1995 to 1999. During this time he organised Labour's campaign in the1997 Wirral South by-election, when the party gained the seat for the first time.[4] Evans went on to serve as assistant general secretary of the Labour Party from 1999 to 2001.[6][7] In 1999 he wrote a proposal to "overhaul" the party's structures, suggesting that "representative democracy should as far as possible be abolished in the Party" in favour of elections byone member, one vote.[8][9] Evans argued this would "empower modernising forces within the party and marginaliseOld Labour".[10] He "played a key backroom role in [Labour's]2001 election victory".[11][12]
In 2001, Evans and Jonathan Upton, formerly Labour's head of corporate development, started apolitical consultancy in Croydon called The Campaign Company.[6][13][14] The company supported Labour politiciansTony Banks andRobert Evans to seek selection. Evans' wife, Aline Delawa, wascompany secretary in 2002, at the same time as running the party's "constitutional and legal affairs unit".[13] In 2002 the company was hired to support the cross-party European Movement which was lobbying for Britain to change currency to theEuro.[15]The Daily Telegraph described the company as a "lobbying firm which advises the NHS, Government departments and political activists seeking selection as party candidates".[14]
Evans served on the board ofChester F.C. and now serves on Chester F.C. Community Trust's board.[2]
Following Labour's defeat at the2019 general election andJeremy Corbyn's resignation asparty leader,Jennie Formby, Evans's predecessor and Corbyn ally, resigned as general secretary of the party.[12]
ThoughAnneliese Midgley was initially favoured for the role, Evans was appointed by theNational Executive Committee on 26 May 2020, winning twenty of the thirty-eight available votes.[16][8] He beat Byron Taylor, the candidate considered to be his leading competitor, and other Labour activists includingAndrew Fisher andNeena Gill.[17]
His appointment was seen as a victory for Starmer, as Evans was described byThe Independent as Starmer's "first choice" candidate.[18]The Jewish Chronicle described Evans as a "staunch opponent ofhard left politics" and a "fierce critic ofanti-Zionism".[19]
On 29 October 2020, Evans, along withthe party's chief whipNick Brown, suspended former leaderJeremy Corbyn due to his response to theEquality and Human Rights Commission's report intoantisemitism in the Labour Party.[20]
Evans announced that he was intending to stand down as General Secretary following the Labour Party's National Conference at the end of September 2024.[21]
On 17 September 2024, Evans was succeeded as General Secretary by Hollie Ridley.[22]
Evans was nominated for alife peerage by Prime MinisterKeir Starmer in late 2024.[23][24] He was createdBaron Evans of Sealand, of Chester in the County of Cheshire, on 17 January 2025,[25] and wasintroduced to the House of Lords on 21 January.[26]
Evans playedbass and sang in thepost-punkcollective Greenfield Leisure, and supportsChester FC.[27]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | General Secretary of the Labour Party 2020–2024 | Succeeded by Hollie Ridley |
