The Home Secretary "jokes" about spiking his wifes drink with Rohypnol

[cakeorwine]

As the other thread has been automatically hidden

"James Cleverly has apologised for joking about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug in comments made at a Downing Street reception.
The home secretary’s remarks came just hours after the Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking, when someone puts drugs into another person’s drink or directly into their body without their knowledge or consent.

Cleverly told female guests at the reception that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”, the Sunday Mirror reported.
He also laughed 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”."

So much to say about this

It’s not about being permanently offended. Some views simply make you unsuitable for some jobs.

Thinking it’s ok to joke about regularly spiking your wife with a date rape drug at an official work event makes you unsuitable to be the Home Secretary in charge or policing and their crackdown on spiking.

Both for thinking it’s an appropriate joke to make in the first place and for being too stupid to think about making such a joke in front of journalists and expecting it to stay hidden.

@jasflowers yes I also know of a friends son who was spiked which is why I did mention boys.

Unfortunately I personally know of so many girls including myself who have been spiked and generally it's females who are the most oppressed and beaten attacked sex and they are attacked by men.

Ah, the Tories. The party women can apparently forgive anything from because "tHey knOW wHAt a WomAn iS".

Yes they do. They just don't see them the same way you do.

Oh for heaven's sake. I didn't know this bit.

In January 2015, Cleverly was selected to be the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Braintree for the 2015 general election, after the sitting Conservative MP Brooks Newmark stood down following controversy over sending sexually suggestive messages to an undercover reporter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cleverly#House_of_Commons

So he only got the gig as an MP in the first place because a Conservative MP had to stand down for making inappropriate sexual remarks.

So sorry, i didn't mean my post to counter yours at all

Rape in all its forms is terrible and never ever a joking matter.

Cleverly is totally unsuitable for any job involving any level of responsibility.

We don't have unlimited free speech in this country. And regardless, freedom of speech does not mean freedom of consequences.
I don't particularly want a misogynist as Home Secretary

My OH works with vulnerable kids. He has on occasion joked that when our own DDs become teenagers he’ll keep them locked in the attic to avoid them snogging boys.

Should he lose his job? Should I leave him?

I’m really glad to see this thread.

Accrording to the BBC, The incident happened on 18 December, when political journalists were invited to a drinks reception in 10 Downing Street along with political aides, ministers and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

When the Home Secretary, at an official function for journalists, feels comfortable making jokes about drugging his wife with Rohypnol, something has gone very wrong. That was him on his best behaviour.

Come on now.

Joking about 'protecting' girls from boys is hardly on the same level as joking about being raping your wife or saying using only a small amount of a date rape drug isn't really illegal.

Not in any way comparable.

Sky news have just said that the comment was made to a female journalist and the event was predominantly attended by females.

Talk about reading the room 🙄

If he worked in a place that had recently announced a major campaign about protecting girls from being isolated/locked in by their families he likely would lose his job making that comment at an official work event…

@YetMoreNewBeginnings but he shouldn’t be saying it in front of men either

Can you imagine the working environment with him as a boss?

To behave so inappropriately, to have such a tin ear... How can he have achieved his position? Surely someone somewhere, when the appointment was being discussed said 'No, not Cleverly. He hasn't got the communication skills or the sensitivity required. He'll fuck it up very quickly and alienate a lot of people. You need someone more reliable.'

I didn’t say he should.

It just shows an even higher level of stupidity on his part to say it to a woman and expect there to be no offence and it to stay hidden.

I agree but it shows that his level of entitlement and lack of fear of consequences is next level. Making a room about raping women in a room full of women shows not only misogyny but an absence of shame or understanding how serious misogyny is, in comparison to making that joke in a room full of men.

And a lack of giving a shit about women.

Yeh but......he's a leader, taking the money , the power and eventually the seat in the Lords...so he's got to Lead.
By all means have your misogynistic public school jokes in private, but do your job in public...any other public servant would lose the job.

@YetMoreNewBeginnings but men need to be encouraged to call out this behaviour and not treat it as banter.

Maybe if he made those comments at work, yes. Although comments like that can really mess with young girls’ heads if he’s saying that within earshot.

It was an obvious joke that backfired

should he have been making this joke no of course not

was it very stupid of him yes of course it was

Bet plenty of women on here will still vote Tory even after this.

They do, but we all know that as it stands if he’d made the joke in a room full of blokes there’s a chance that the “what gets said here stays here” may well have stood.

That he felt comfortable enough to make a job about repeatedly drugging his wife in a room full of women and expected that silent agreement to stand shows an even higher level of stupidity on his part. It shows that he didn’t expect the women there to be offended because in his mind it was a funny joke. So he has a complete lack of understanding about how many women have been victims of spiking.

It shows that he simply isn’t fit to be the person spearheading the supposed push on women’s safety.

For me it would be sackable if he said it in a room full of men. To say it in a room full of women shows he’s not fit for any kind of official office of government imo.