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The UK home secretary has apologized for making a joke about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug.
James Cleverly’s remarks were made at a reception at the Prime Minister’s home-office 10 Downing Street, and made public hours after Cleverly’s department announced a crackdown on the offence of spiking drinks.
The Sunday Mirror newspaper reported that Cleverly told female guests at the event, “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit.”
The paper added that he was quoted saying the secret to a long marriage was making sure your spouse was “always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there.”
A spokesperson for the home secretary said: “In what was always understood as a private conversation, James, the home secretary, tackling spiking made what was clearly meant to be an ironic joke – for which he apologizes.”
Journalists attended the reception, which would normally be understood to be a private “off the record” event, but the paper said it had decided to eschew that etiquette due to Cleverly’s position in government and the subject matter.
Opposition politicians have been quick to criticize the remarks. With Alex Davies-Jones, the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, saying: “‘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.”
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