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UK home secretary James Cleverly has faced calls for his resignation despite apologising for making a joke at a recent Downing Street reception about spiking his wife’s drink with a “date rape” drug.
His comments came just after the government announced a crackdown on spiking — when someone puts drugs into another person’s drink or body without their knowledge or consent.
Cleverly is considered a future leader of the ruling Conservative party, having previously occupied the role of foreign secretary. But his off-the-cuff gags have landed him in trouble in recent weeks.
The Tory minister reportedly told female guests at the Number 10 reception that the secret to a long marriage was making sure that your spouse was always “mildly sedated” so she would not notice that there were “better men out there”.
Cleverly continued to joke that he put “a little bit of Rohypnol” in his wife Susie’s drink every night and said it was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”, in comments first reported by the Sunday Mirror newspaper. Rohypnol is a strong sedative commonly known as a “date rape” drug.
A spokesperson for Cleverly said: “In what was always understood as a private conversation, James, the home secretary . . . made what was clearly meant to be an ironic joke — for which he apologises.”
Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “Spiking is a disturbing and serious crime which is having a devastating impact on young women’s lives. It is truly unbelievable that the home secretary made such appalling jokes on the very same day the government announced new policy on spiking.”
Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “We know that ‘banter’ is the excuse under which misogyny is allowed to thrive. How can we trust [Cleverly] to seriously address violence against women and girls? We deserve better than this from our lawmakers and he should resign.”
Anna Birley, from the group Reclaim These Streets, a women’s safety campaign, said it was not enough for Cleverly to apologise. “James Cleverly should be deeply ashamed and needs to hand in his resignation letter.”
The Home Office last week announced a package of measures to tackle spiking last week, including new research into self-testing kits, more training for door staff and better education for young people to raise awareness about the threat.
It promised “co-ordinated police action” to crack down on spiking and said it would use the Criminal Justice Bill to clarify that it is illegal “without any doubt”.
In November, Cleverly apologised in the House of Commons for his use of “inappropriate language” after it was claimed he told Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton, that his constituency was a “shithole” on the floor of the chamber.
“I know what I said. I rejected the accusation that I criticised his constituency,” he insisted. A source close to the home secretary said at the time that he had described Cunningham as a “shit MP” instead.
