James Cleverly wife joke: Home Secretary apologises for date rape controversy - what did he say about spiking?

James Cleverly has apologised for making an "awful" joke about giving his wife date rape drugs, after No10 said the matter is "closed".

Shortly after announcing new legislation to tackle drink spiking, the Home Secretary reportedly joked about giving his wife Rohypnol at a Downing Street reception. Cleverly told female guests at a No10 event before Christmas that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”, the Sunday Mirror claimed.

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

In his first public comments since the controversy, Cleverly told broadcasters today (2 January): “I made a joke, it was an awful joke and I apologised immediately, but I’m absolutely committed and have been throughout my political career to the protection of women and girls.

“I’m absolutely undeterred from that focus and you know the people that work with me know my focus on this and I hope to be judged on my actions rather than my words, but I remain absolutely committed to the protection of women and girls.”

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.”

Rishi Sunak now considers the matter “closed”, his spokeswoman has said. She could not say whether he had spoken to the Home Secretary since the Cabinet minister reportedly made the remarks.

She highlighted the “action” the government had taken in recent weeks on the issue of spiking when asked by reporters about the backlash Cleverly had faced from date rape victims and women’s rights groups following the comments.

She said: "You saw, and it was right, that the Home Secretary apologised for what I understand to be comments made during a private conversation. The Prime Minister considers the matter closed, and he and the Home Secretary are focused on the action the Government is taking to tackle spiking and protect women and girls.”

Conversations at Downing Street receptions are usually understood to be “off the record”, but the Sunday Mirror decided to break that convention because of Cleverly’s position and the subject matter. The Home Office is in charge of tackling incidents of spiking — when someone puts drugs into another’s drink or directly into their body without their knowledge or consent - and recently announced new legislation for the crime.

Cleverly previously described tackling violence against women and girls as a “personal priority” and called spiking a “perverse” crime.

Women’s rights group the Fawcett Society said the comments were “sickening” and called for Cleverly to resign. That was echoed by Gina Miller, an anti-Brexit campaigner and head of the True and Fair Party, who said she was “often drugged” in a previous abusive relationship.

“Some topics are off limits when it comes to jokes,” she tweeted. “Women need men as allies to help end this evil — not joke about it.”

While Alex Davies-Jones, Labour's Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding, said: “‘It was a joke’ is the most tired excuse in the book and no one is buying it. If the Home Secretary is serious about tackling spiking, and violence against women and girls, then that requires a full cultural change. The ‘banter’ needs to stop and it has to start at the top.”

It is not the first time Cleverly has talked himself into trouble since taking over the role from the controversial Suella Braverman just over six weeks ago. He was forced to apologise last month after swearing in Parliament.

The senior Conservative admitted calling a Labour MP “shit” in a Commons heckle, but denied describing Alex Cunningham’s Stockton North constituency as a “shithole”.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also claimed he had privately described the Rwanda asylum plan as “batshit” – a term he said he did not remember using.

The comment comes after universities have been taking drastic measures to protect students from spiking, with freshers being given drinks covers, panic alarms and spike testing kits.

It comes after campuses across the UK saw a huge increase in incidents in recent years. Perpetrators were seemingly targeting student areas and events, and a frightening wave of spiking via injection emerged - prompting students to start speaking out about the problem. Some even boycotted university nights out to raise awareness and ensure “the issue of spiking is taken seriously”.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.