Cleverly’s date rape ‘joke’ the latest time he has talked his way into trouble

Home Secretary James Cleverly has been forced to apologise again for something he said.

Home Secretary James Cleverly holds up a box of chocolates while meeting police officers at Luton Police Station to thank them for their serivce (PA) (PA Wire)

James Cleverly has found himself in hot water over unguarded comments for the third time in just six weeks as Home Secretary.

He faced calls to resign after an “ironic joke” at a No 10 reception about using a date rape drug on his wife was made public by the Sunday Mirror.

The Home Secretary apologised – as he had previously been forced to do in November after swearing in the Commons.

He admitted calling a Labour MP “shit” in a Commons heckle, but denied describing Alex Cunningham’s Stockton North constituency as a “shithole”.

Mr Cleverly’s colourful use of language was also highlighted when shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper claimed he had privately described the Rwanda asylum plan as “batshit” – a term he said he did not remember using.

The Home Secretary was given the crucial law and order role by Rishi Sunak in the reshuffle which saw Lord Cameron replace him as Foreign Secretary in November.

He had been viewed as a confident operator, adept at handling the media and is seen as a potential future Tory leader.

The senior Conservative has shown loyalty to Mr Sunak since the Prime Minister decided to keep him on as foreign secretary when entering Downing Street just over a year ago.

Mr Cleverly was a staunch backer of Liz Truss before her short-lived stint in No 10.

Ms Truss rewarded Mr Cleverly by making him foreign secretary, with Mr Sunak re-appointing him in October 2022.

During his time leading the Foreign Office, he dealt with a series of international crises, including the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the wake of the October 7 atrocities.

The 54-year-old visited China in August, becoming the first British foreign secretary to make the trip in five years — a move criticised by Tory MPs who want Mr Sunak’s administration to take a more hawkish approach to relations with Beijing.

The MP for Braintree also played a central role in the evacuation of UK nationals from Sudan when fighting broke out between two separate factions in the central African country in spring 2023, while being one of the main UK Government spokesmen on the Ukraine conflict.

Before his Foreign Office stint, he briefly held the position of education secretary – making him the third person in that role in 48 hours – as Mr Johnson’s premiership collapsed around him in July 2022.

He has also been co-chairman of the Conservative Party and held lower ranking ministerial positions in the Cabinet Office, Foreign Office and the defunct department for exiting the European Union.

Mr Cleverly is the son of a midwife and a businessman, and was born in Lewisham, south-east London.

He spent much of his childhood with family in Chelmsford, Essex, and joined the Army when he left school.

But his ambition hit the rocks when injury struck, and he returned to education to get a business degree.

He then signed up for the Territorial Army, where he has served for about 20 years.

Mr Cleverly, married to Susie and a father of two, had a career in magazine and digital publishing, and says he worked on a number of “market-leading titles” before setting up his own company.

He ventured into the world of politics, with an unsuccessful bid to serve on Lewisham council in 2002.

He also stood for the Lewisham East parliamentary seat in 2005, but lost to Labour.

Mr Cleverly was elected to the London Assembly as the member for Bexley and Bromley in 2008.

In 2012, Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, made him chairman of the London Fire Authority.

Mr Cleverly stepped down from that role in 2015 after being selected to run for Parliament at the next general election, and secured his Braintree seat for the first time that year.

While serving as a Brexit minister, he joined the Tory leadership race to replace Theresa May in 2019 but pulled out, saying his fellow MPs were not comfortable with the idea of picking a “relatively new” colleague.