Sorry after criticism
British minister makes fun of knockout drops
December 24, 2023, 1:42 p.m
At a reception, James Cleverly makes unspeakable comments about knockout drops. His spokesman tries to appease. The Interior Minister made a “clearly ironic joke” in a private conversation. A women’s organization is calling for his resignation.
British Home Secretary James Cleverly has apologized for making a joke about knockout drops at a reception. According to a report in the Sunday Mirror newspaper, he told female guests that it wasn’t actually illegal if there was just “a tiny bit” of Rohypnol (a sedative) in their drink every night.
Cleverly also laughed and said that the secret to a long marriage is making sure your partner is always “lightly sedated” so she doesn’t realize there are better men out there, the newspaper reported. A spokesman for Cleverly said that the Interior Minister had made a “clearly ironic joke” in a private conversation that was always understood as such, for which he apologized.
Cleverly has been heading the Interior Ministry for several weeks, was previously Foreign Minister and is married. Shortly before the comment, he had announced new measures against the misuse of knockout drops. “Spiking” means that perpetrators put drugs in their victims’ drinks, for example in order to rape them later.
Women’s rights organizations sharply criticized Cleverly’s statements. The Fawcett Society said it was disgusting that Cleverly, as a minister responsible for women’s safety, thought that something as horrific as drugging women was laughable. The organization called for his resignation. The charity Women’s Aid warned him to take spiking seriously.