Journalists Across Networks Grill Home Secretary James Cleverly Over Date Rape Drug Joke Scandal
In his first set of interviews since the incident, Home Secretary James Cleverly spent the morning apologising for a joke about drugging his wife with the date rape drug rohypnol.
The senior Tory official issued a public apology on both Sky News and BBC Breakfast, acknowledging the severity of his words.
“It was a joke that I made and of course, I regret it,” he said to Sky News host Kay Burley. “I apologised immediately and that apology is heartfelt.”
BBC’s Jon Kay also made a point to push the Home Secretary on his comments.
“When you sit in meetings at the Home Office in future with women’s charities and campaign groups and they’re looking you in the eye, and the know what you said was a joke at that function on Christmas Eve, what are they meant to think of you and your real understanding of the issues that they face?”
“I think my actions will speak louder than words,” Cleverly said, outlining his previous commitment to women’s safety.
Female BBC Radio 4 journalist Mishal Husain, however, took the Home Secretary to task further on a list of his past missteps, occasions when he’d gotten himself “in trouble” with outspoken comments about other politicians and policy, pushing Cleverly to the point of frustration.
“You can’t keep doing this,” he said.
Cleverly’s joke, reported by the Sunday Mirror, included a comment that adding “a little bit of Rohypnol in [his wife’s] drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit.” He also said that the secret to a long marriage being to keep your spouse “mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there.” He since apologised.
The incident came just hours after the Home Office announced measures to combat spiking, where drugs are introduced into a person’s drink or body without their knowledge.
The comment was met with immediate condemnation from campaigners who protested the need to overhaul of attitudes that trivialise date rape and coercive control.
Cleverly has faced calls for his resignation over the comments but Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that he will not face further action on the matter.
