Home Secretary James Cleverly admits date rape joke may have ‘distracted’ from work to tackle spiking
Home Secretary James Cleverly has made a personal apology for a date rape joke and admitted it “potentially distracted” from the government’s work to tackle drink spiking.
Just before Christmas, it emerged the home secretary had made what his spokesperson described as an “ironic joke” at a Downing Street reception about putting a date rape drug in his wife’s drink, hours after the Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking.
Mr Cleverly told female guests “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”, the Sunday Mirror reported.
The cabinet minister also laughed that the secret to a long marriage was ensuring your spouse was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there”.
He faced calls to resign for what was labelled a “sickening” comment, but after issuing an apology through his spokesperson, Downing Street said it considered the matter closed.
James Cleverly and his wife Susannah Cleverly
Nonetheless, Mr Cleverly was challenged about the comments on Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley. He said: “It was a joke that I made. And of course, you know, I regret it and I apologised immediately. To me that apology is heartfelt.”
After being pressed on the issue, the home secretary admitted he may have “distracted” from the government’s work to tackle drink spiking.
He said: “I’m sorry because it’s clearly caused hurt and that’s the last thing I wanted to do. It potentially distracted from the work that we were doing to tackle spiking, to help predominately who are the victims of spiking. And I regret that.
“But I’m absolutely determined to continue the work which I’ve been doing for years both as foreign secretary and straight away as home secretary.”
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He defended his record, noting he 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,” he said. “When I was foreign secretary, I set a target that 80% of our aid has to go demonstrably have a positive effect for women and girls.”
He also said his wife, Susie, was “very honest in terms of her feedback” when the story emerged.
Mr Cleverly had been sharply criticised by a senior Tory MP who told Sky News last week the comment was “misogynistic” and “very ill-judged”.
Dame Caroline Dinenage said: “I think it was a very ill-judged comment. But I mean, I think James has owned that comment and apologised.
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Cleverly date rape joke ‘silly’ but ‘let’s move on’
“I think he understands and actually anybody who follows James on social media will see how deeply in love with his wife he is and what a wonderful relationship they have.
“So you know, I think that he’s apologised, let’s move on.”
The conversation in which the home secretary reportedly made the comment was at a Downing Street reception where conversations are usually understood to be off the record.
However, the Sunday Mirror decided to break that convention because of Mr Cleverly’s position and the subject matter.
Sir Keir Starmer continues to face the threat of a major rebellion during a key vote on welfare reforms later – despite making last-minute concessions to disgruntled Labour MPs.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has confirmed that all existing claimants of the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability benefit, will be protected from changes to eligibility.
The combined value of the standard Universal Credit allowance and the health top-up will rise “at least in line with inflation” every year of this parliament.
And an additional £300m for employment support for sick and disabled people in 2026 has been announced, which will rise every year after.
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Welfare cuts ‘needed to be made’
Ms Kendall has also promised that a consultation into PIP – “co-produced” with disabled people – will be published next autumn.
She said the U-turn on welfare cuts will cost taxpayers about £2.5bn by 2030 – less than half the £4.8bn the government had expected to save with its initial proposals.
Modelling by Ms Kendall’s own department, released yesterday, suggested the proposals would push 150,000 more people into poverty by 2030, down from the 250,000 estimated under the original plan.
But after announcing the U-turns, Labour MPs were still publicly saying they could not back the plans as they do not go far enough to allay their concerns.
Disabilities minister Stephen Timms would not say he was “confident” the proposals would pass the Commons when asked on Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge.
“We’ve got a very strong package, I certainly hope it passes,” he replied.
Read more: What are the concessions to the welfare reform bill?
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‘Disabled people thrown under the bus’
A total of 86 charities united yesterday to call on MPs to reject the reforms, saying they will harm disabled people and calling it “a political choice”.
The likes of Oxfam, Child Action Poverty Group, Mind and Shelter said the bill has been brought to a vote without consulting disabled people and without any assessment “of its impact on health and employment outcomes”.
When asked to name “a single” disability organisation in favour of the reforms, Ms Kendall declined to do so.
Several Labour MPs indicated they would still vote against the changes, leaving the government in the dark over how big a rebellion it still may face.
Ms Kendall tried to allay their fears, telling MPs: “I believe we have a fair package, a package that protects existing claimants because they’ve come to rely on that support.”
Richard Burgon presented a petition to parliament yesterday evening against the cuts, signed by more than 77,000 people.
Several Labour MPs questioned why the vote was going ahead before the review into PIP is published – including Rachael Maskell, who said she could not “countenance sick and disabled people being denied support” and added: “It is a matter of conscience.”
Connor Naismith said the concessions “undoubtedly improve efforts to secure welfare reform which is fair”, but added: “Unfortunately, I do not believe these concessions yet go far enough.”
Labour rebel Nadia Whittome said the government was ‘ignoring’ disabled people
Nadia Whittome accused the government of “ignoring” disabled people and urged ministers to go “back to the drawing board”.
Ian Byrne told the Commons he will vote against the “cruel cuts” to disability benefits because the “so-called concessions go nowhere near far enough”.
The vote will take place this evening, with coverage on Sky News’ Politics Hub live blog and on TV.
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