James Cleverly won’t be punished for date-rape drug joke as PM ‘considers matter

James Cleverly won’t be punished for joking about giving his wife a date-rape drug as Rishi Sunak “considers the matter closed”.

The PM was accused of an “absence of leadership, accountability and integrity” for failing to take action against the Home Secretary. Mr Cleverly has been facing calls to resign after the Mirror revealed he joked at a Downing Street reception about spiking his wife’s drink with a date-rape drug.

He told female guests that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”. His sick remarks came just hours after his Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking.

Asked about Mr Sunak’s stance today, the PM’s deputy spokeswoman said: “It was right that the Home Secretary apologised for what I understood 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 that the Government is taking to tackle spiking and protect women and girls.”

She said she was not aware of Mr Sunak and Mr Cleverly having spoken about the incident. Asked if the PM was worried about the message Mr Cleverly’s comments sends to victims of spiking, she said: “The Prime Minister and Home Secretary are both focused on the action that the Government is taking. That’s why we made sure that the existing laws recognise the threat that spiking poses to women and girls.

“That’s why we set out also a raft of measures to offer immediate support to victims alongside mandatory training for doormen, investing in research for rapid testing kits, all announced by the Home Office in their package just last week, so our focus is on making sure that we’re taking the action required to protect women and girls.”

But Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence Alex Davies-Jones said: “The country deserves so much better. There is an absence of leadership, accountability and integrity in this Government and we’re all paying the price.”

Women’s rights campaigners have demanded that Mr Cleverly resign as Home Secretary. The Fawcett Society said the Tory Cabinet minister could not be trusted to “seriously address violence against women and girls”

Fawcett Society chief executive Jemima Olchawski said: “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.”