Home Office warned of spiking 'jokes' the day James Cleverly made date-rape gag
A Home Office report warned against treating drinking spiking as a joke on the day James Cleverly made a vile gag about giving his wife a date-rape drug.
The Sunday Mirror revealed last week that the Home Secretary 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". He also joked 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.”
Mr Cleverly's spokesman said at the time that his remarks were "clearly meant to be an ironic joke - for which he apologises". But the comments - which came only hours after his Home Office announced plans for a crackdown - triggered a furious backlash. Rishi Sunak "considers the matter closed", his spokeswoman said this week.
It has now emerged that a report from Mr Cleverly's own department published the same day warned that spiking is sometimes carried out because it is seen as “funny” or a “joke". The report, entitled "Understanding and tackling spiking", said: "This is an invasive, upsetting and dangerous crime. Perpetrated covertly and, as we have seen, sometimes because it’s viewed as ‘funny’ or ‘a joke’. This is not funny, and we must ensure that message is clear."
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper warned that his comments undermined efforts to take the crime more seriously and risked emboldening perpetrators who may be seeking to target people on New Year’s Eve. She said: “The Home Secretary has no excuse. His own departmental report could not be clearer in its warning that spiking isn’t taken seriously enough and that part of the problem involves people committing this devastating crime because it is seen as funny or a joke.
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"Yet on the very same day, the man in charge of the report and of taking action on spiking chose to reduce this vile crime to a laughing matter. Either he didn’t take this crime seriously enough to even read his own report, or he did and he ignored its warnings - which is worse."
She warned that New Year's Eve partygoers were at risk of spiking and the Home Secretary should be "doing everything he can to make sure spiking is taken more seriously, instead of turning it into a joke that makes the problem worse".
Ms Cooper added: "The shattering impact this has for victim confidence cannot be underestimated. For Rishi Sunak to consider this "case closed" while neither he nor the Home Secretary do anything to rebuild victims' confidence, is just another sign of his total weakness and shows utter disrespect and disregard for victims of crime. Britain deserves so much better than this."
Labour wants to make spiking a standalone criminal offence, as part of a package of measures to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade.
A spokesman for the Home Secretary tonight said: "This important report was published on the same day the Home Secretary announced the specific targeting of this crime in legislation for the first time ever, and a campaign to tackle it nationally. This came in his first month as Home Secretary.
"His actions speak much louder than the reporting of what was always understood as a private conversation. He has apologised for those words. He remains publicly committed, as he was in his previous role, to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls wherever and in whatever form, as one of his top priorities."
Earlier this week, 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."
Conversations at Downing Street receptions are usually understood to be “off the record”. The Sunday Mirror decided to publish what Mr Cleverly said because we believe these are exceptional circumstances given his role as Home Secretary and the subject matter. It is our duty to inform readers of what was said by the minister responsible for crime.
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