Women’s rights campaigners have demanded that James Cleverly resign as Home Secretary after he made a joke about giving his spouse a date-rape drug.
The Fawcett Society mentioned the Tory Cabinet minister couldn’t be trusted to “seriously address violence against women and girls”.
The Mirror revealed that Mr Cleverly joked at a Downing Street reception about spiking his spouse’s drink with a date-rape drug. He instructed feminine visitors that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”. His remarks got here simply hours after his Home Office introduced plans to crack down on spiking.
Fawcett Society chief government Jemima Olchawski mentioned: “It’s sickening that the senior minister in charge of keeping women safe thinks that something as terrifying as drugging women is a laughing matter. No wonder women don’t feel safe. We know that ‘banter’ is the excuse under which misogyny is allowed to thrive. How can we trust him to seriously address violence against women and girls? We deserve better than this from our lawmakers and Cleverly should resign.”
Mr Cleverly has confronted a barrage of criticism over his remarks. Alex Davies-Jones, shadow minister for home violence and safeguarding, mentioned: “‘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.”
Jess Phillips, the Labour former minister, mentioned: “It will be painted as if we can’t take a joke. We can. We even make them. The thing that men making these jokes don’t understand is that it leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for women to follow to know they won’t be believed. That there experiences are just bantz.”
Fellow Labour MP Stella Creasy mentioned: “As Alanis Morissette taught us, ironic is meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife, not suggesting she needs to be drugged to have a relationship with you. Good job he’s not in charge of tackling violence against women… oh.”
And former Love Island contestant Sharon Gaffka, who was the sufferer of drink spiking, accused Mr Cleverly of contributing to “troubling societal and policing attitudes”. She instructed the Mirror: “To address this issue effectively, systemic changes must come from the top. While the Home Secretary’s recent initiatives to combat spiking are acknowledged, they fall short of campaigners’ requests. Coupled with insensitive jokes, it sends a message that the matter isn’t taken seriously.
“During the festive season, incidents of domestic abuse, particularly against women, surge. It’s disappointing that the Home Secretary doesn’t seem to recognise the gravity of domestic abuse and the importance of treating it with the seriousness it deserves.”
In a tweet, she added: “If you were my husband, the only thing you’d be served at Christmas is divorce papers. Disgusting.”
Ms Gaffka, who appeared on ITV’s Love Island in 2021, was out for lunch with pals in a bar in 2020 when her drink was spiked. She was taken to hospital after being discovered unconscious in a rest room cubicle. The social media influencer has mentioned her “biggest regret” was not reporting her case to police.
Mr Cleverly’s “joke” at a No10 drinks reception on Monday got here on the identical day he sat within the Commons as his Home Office minister Laura Farris gave an announcement on altering the regulation to deal with spiking.
In a Home Office press launch on the announcement Mr Cleverly, 54, mentioned: “The public should be under no illusion – spiking is a serious offence and I urge anyone who suspects they have been a victim of this to contact the police now. This Government has already gone further than ever before to protect the public from harm, and ensuring that women and girls can live their lives free from fear is one of my top priorities as Home Secretary.”
Conversations at Downing Street receptions are normally understood to be “off the record”. The Sunday Mirror determined to publish what Mr Cleverly mentioned as a result of we consider these are distinctive circumstances given his position as Home Secretary and the subject material. It is our obligation to tell readers of what was mentioned by the minister answerable for crime.
Mr Cleverly’s spokesman mentioned: “In what was always understood as a private conversation, the Home Secretary made what was clearly meant to be an ironic joke – for which he apologises.”