Science of success

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Biotechnology is big business, and Evans is confident that he can turn Qatar into the medical sciences centre of the Middle East.

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US president Bush in 2006 vetoed a bill allowing funding for new embryonic stem cell research.

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UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s links with professor Christopher Evans have been the subject of some controversy, as have Evans’ links with predecessor Tony Blair.

Back in 1987, the Enymatix offices were opened by then-Labour leader Neil Kinnock. Kinnock was accompanied by a rising star within the ranks of the party, the MP for Dunfermline East, Gordon Brown

Now Brown is UK prime minister, and his links with Evans have been the subject of some controversy - as have Evans' links with predecessor Tony Blair.

Evans was appointed in 2005 to the UK Stem Cell Initiative, a programme set up by then-chancellor Brown to advise the government on cutting-edge technology in the field.

However, Evans hit the headlines two years ago over allegations that he had made donations to the Labour Party in exchange for a life peerage. Evans was arrested in September 2006 following a $1.5m loan to the party a year earlier. Evans's successes in bioscience had already earned him an OBE in 1995 and a knighthood in 2001.

The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently announced there was insufficient evidence to bring the case to court. However, while he remains a Labour supporter, Evans has obviously been affected by the experience.

"I will never donate money to anyone again in my life," he insists. "I am past donations as it gets you into trouble."

He blames other parties, namely the Conservative opposition, for "propagating" claims the donation was in return for honours.

"I had been asked three or four times before if I wanted a peerage and I said ‘not yet, as I'm too busy' as there is a lot of work involved," he recalls. "I said that maybe ‘one day I will take it', and then all this broke. If they offered me a peerage tomorrow I would say ‘no, I'm not interested'."

Despite the controversy, Brown and Evans remain good friends. The Welshman is convinced, too, that Brown has gradually proven his worth as prime minister as the global financial crisis has squeezed the UK.

"Gordon is a hard worker, has strong values and strong financial skills," says Evans. "As a strong financial PM we had exactly the right person in the right place to pull Britain back from the brink.

"I like his philosophy of putting the government's money where its mouth is during the financial crisis and not just leaving it to market forces because we would be bust," he continues, although he does fear for the party's immediate future in the face of the Conservative Party resurgence. "I am a Labour supporter but whether Gordon will have national support to get back in a year or two, I don't know," he admits.

"I think he will have competition from David Cameron and the Tories because countries like to have a change."

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