Evans held various portfolios in the Olsen and Kerin governments, including Correctional Services, Environment & Heritage, Racing and Volunteers.
[3] At a meeting in Norwood, Evans reportedly commented that "when we lose the federal election at the end of the year, the Liberal Party will be in dire straits and we have got to plan to deal with that".
The alleged gaffe drew a rebuke from one federal Liberal MP who labelled Evans and his state parliamentary team "hopeless".
By late February, speculation over the opposition leader's future was being reported in the media, although he was expected to survive in the short term due to lack of options with 15 MPs remaining in the lower house.
[6][7][8] Initial reports suggested previous aspirant Martin Hamilton-Smith might challenge for the position, with Isobel Redmond as deputy.
[18] Remarkably on 30 March 2010 exactly four years after he had been elected Liberal leader, Evans stood for the deputy's job but was defeated by the man who toppled him for the leadership in 2007, Hamilton-Smith.
Evans suffered a 2.8-point two-party swing against him, reduced to a margin of 8.1 points in Davenport at the 2014 state election, with two-party swings against him of up to 8 points in some booths, including the traditionally Liberal-voting booth of Belair which Labor won by three votes.