James Cleverly admits he ‘messed up’ when he joked about spiking his wife

The former home secretary said his comments – which he made hours after announcing plans to crack down on spiking – were ‘wrong’ and ‘crass’.

Tory leadership candidate James Cleverly made the comments last December (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

James Cleverly said he “messed up” when he joked about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug.

In December 2023, the Sunday Mirror reported that Mr Cleverly told female guests at a Number 10 event that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”.

At the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, the former home secretary said his comments – which he made hours after announcing plans to crack down on spiking – were “wrong” and “crass”.

Look, I messed up. I messed up. I was trying to make a point that I was the home secretary who was updating the law to make spiking illegal, to protect women

James Cleverly

Asked what his wife Susannah Cleverly’s response to the remark was, Mr Cleverly replied: “Oh you don’t want to hear what Mrs Cleverly said to me after.

“If you think that got me in trouble, repeating the words she said to me would get me in an awful lot of trouble, particularly on a live broadcast.

“Look, I messed up. I messed up. I was trying to make a point that I was the home secretary who was updating the law to make spiking illegal, to protect women. I was trying to make that point in front of a number of journalists.”

During a debate in the main hall, the leadership hopeful added: “I was trying to amplify the point that I was taking action on a really serious issue.

“I tried to do it in a light-hearted way, it was wrong. It was crass. I apologised at the time and my real frustration is that in doing that, it undermined the really serious work I was doing.

“That was totally my fault but you take it on the chin, you accept the criticism, you recognise that you’ve done something wrong, and you make good and you make amends.”