JNN 06 May , 2013 London : A senior lawmaker from Britain’s ruling Conservative Party was arrested and questioned by the police on Saturday over allegations of rape and sexual assault involving two men, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The police did not release the suspect’s name or job, describing him only as a 55-year-old man from Pendleton, a town in northern England. But the person with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, identified him as Nigel Evans, a Conservative member of Parliament who serves as one of three deputy speakers in the House of Commons.

The attacks “are alleged to have been committed in Pendleton between July 2009 and March 2013,” the Lancashire police said in a statement.

Mr. Evans’s arrest does not necessarily mean he will be charged with a crime, only that he was being interrogated by the police as a suspect. He was re leased on bail later Saturday, and ordered to report back for questioning next month.

He is one of only a handful of openly gay members of Parliament. In a 2010 interview with The Mail on Sunday in which he publicly acknowledged his sexuality for the first time, Mr. Evans said that he was “tired of living a lie” and that he had been threatened with exposure by rivals.

The British news media reported that Prime Minister David Cameron had been informed of the arrest, but a spokesman for the Conservative Party refused to confirm the reports.

The news comes at an awkward time politically. The Conservatives were trounced in local elections last week, losing ground to the tiny right-wing U.K. Independence Party.

Mr Evans, MP for the northern England Tory stronghold of Ribble Valley since 1992, was elected as one of three Commons deputy speakers three years ago.

In more than two decades in Parliament, the Swansea-born MP – who came out as gay to a Sunday newspaper in 2010 – has held some senior posts in the party.

From 1999 to 2001, he was vice-chairman of the Conservative Party. Then, when Iain Duncan Smith became party leader in 2001, he was promoted to shadow Welsh secretary – a post he held for two years.

Mr Evans grew up in Swansea, graduating in politics from the city’s University College and joined the Conservatives when he was 17.

He has a strong background in local government, and was first elected as a councillor to West Glamorgan county council in 1985, while managing his family’s newsagent business.

He stood twice in Welsh seats before landing the Lancashire constituency he has held since 1992.

After entering the Commons that year, he quickly became a parliamentary private secretary, working for William Hague for two years during his time as Secretary of State for Wales.

Mr Evans, an outspoken right-wing MP and known Eurosceptic, was one of the first MPs to start campaigning against the prospect of a single currency. He has also regularly campaigned against drugs.

Mr. Evans did not return messages seeking comment.