Ex-Tory MP accused of trivialising bills crisis by suggesting ‘women like heating on’

A former Tory MP in line for a peerage from Boris Johnson has been accused of “trivialising” the energy crisis by describing himself as a “hot-blooded male” and saying that the “females in my house like to have the heating on”.

In a segment on the unprecedented energy costs facing households this winter on the BBC’s Sunday Politics North West, Graham Evans followed his remarks on “females” by advising viewers to “try and keep the heating down as much as humanly possible”.

He said on the show: “Personally, I’m a hot-blooded male. Females in my house like to have the heating on. Try and keep the heating down as much as humanly possible.”

As Labour’s Oliver Ryan put a hand to his face in apparent disbelief, Mr Evans – the Conservative MP for Weaver Vale until 2017 – was pressed by presenter Annabel Tiffin on the fact that “there will be a lot of vulnerable people, perhaps not as hot-blooded, that will need heating on and it’s very, very costly”.

Mr Evans replied: “Absolutely, in all serious, that’s why the government has supported heating bills as far as they can. But I’m not trying to disguise ... [it’s] going to be a very, very tricky winter.”

Echoing Liz Truss’s first prime ministerial address to the Tory conference this week, he continued: “That’s why the government needs to go for growth so that we do ‘grow the pie’, so we can have some bigger slices for the most vulnerable.”

Mr Ryan, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Burnley at the next general election, retorted: “People are currently choosing between heating and eating in a lot of circumstances.”

He added: “I think to trivialise it in the way that you have, Graham, and say its a ‘hot-blooded male’ thing and a couple of degrees on the thermometer might pay it off is not quite grasping the seriousness of where people find themselves this winter.”

Mr Evans responded that it had been “a flippant comment”, adding: “But the fact is we have to grow the economy. The companies are the geese that lay the golden eggs ... that is the whole point of the government’s policy.”

A clip of the exchange has since been viewed more than 130,000 times on social media, with the current Labour MP in Mr Evans’s former Cheshire constituency, Mike Amesbury, among those critical of Mr Evans’ comments.

“My constituents in Weaver Vale are anxious with many struggling to pay energy bills,” Mr Amesbury said. “To hear the former Tory MP for Weaver Vale peddle this nonsense is an insult to women and families trying to make ends meet.”

Labour MP Cat Smith called Mr Evans’s remarks “jaw-dropping” and “misogynistic”, referencing a leaked peerage list reported by the Daily Telegraph as she added: “Then you realise the Tories are about to put him in the House of Lords where he will get to legislate for life.”

Referring to the vague group attacked by Ms Truss in her conference speech as supposed enemies of economic growth, William Kedjanyi, a political analyst with Star Sports, shared the clip and joked: “We regret to inform you that women are part of the anti-growth coalition.”

Labour’s metro mayor for Liverpool city region, Steve Rotheram, responded by saying: “Tell me your party isn’t taking the cost of living crisis seriously without telling me your party isn’t taking the cost of living crisis seriously.”

According to his website, Mr Evans has worked for companies such as BAE Systems and Hewlett Packard, and as a Special Constable in Cheshire Constabulary. Elected in 2010, Mr Evans went on to serve as a parliamentary private secretary to then-defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon, and sit on the Commons work and pensions committee, among other groups.