Cleverly apologises for joke about spiking wife’s drink

JAMES CLEVERLY, the Home Secretary, has admitted his joke about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug was “awful” in a heartfelt apology.

For the first time Mr Cleverly said he personally regrets the remarks, which came hours after the Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking.

He told female guests at a Downing Street reception that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”.

Mr Cleverly also said the secret to a long marriage was ensuring your wife was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there”.

Mr Cleverly told Sky News: “It was a joke that I made and of course you know I regret it and I apologised immediately, and that apology is heartfelt.

“But the point that I’ve made is that as Home Secretary I was the first Home Secretary to put forward legislation to toughen our ability to deal with spiking.

“My first visit as Home Secretary was to an investigation team investigating violence against women and girls.

“When I was foreign secretary, I set a target that 80 per cent of our aid has got to demonstrably have a positive effect for women and girls. I shouldn’t have said it and I apologised immediately.” He added: “I’m sorry because it clearly caused hurt. It’s potentially distracted from the work we were doing to tackle spiking to help predominantly women, who are the victims of spiking, and I regret that. But I’m absolutely determined to continue the work that I’ve been doing for years.”

The Home Secretary met his wife Susie at university, and the couple have two children.

Conversations at Downing Street receptions are usually considered to be “off the record”, but the Sunday Mirror decided to break that convention because of Mr Cleverly’s position and the subject matter.

Allies of Mr Cleverly said his comments were made in private but that he recognised they were inappropriate.

He has previously described tackling violence against women and girls as a “personal priority” and called spiking a “perverse” crime. Mr Cleverly told BBC Radio 4: “It was an awful joke, but I apologised immediately and I am absolutely committed and I have been throughout my political career, to the protection of women and girls.”

Ministers have vowed to modernise the language used in legislation to make clear spiking is a crime, but stopped short of making spiking a specific offence.