"That is a really nasty and frightening joke and he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself.”
Labour MP Emily Thornberry has slammed Home Secretary James Cleverly as “deeply misogynistic” and said that he should be “thoroughly ashamed of himself” for joking about giving his wife a date-rape drug.
Thornberry made the comments during an interview on Good Morning Britain earlier today, where she was asked about Cleverly’s comments. The Mirror revealed that the Home Secretary had joked at a Downing Street reception about spiking his wife’s drink with a date-rape drug.
He also joked that the secret to ensuring a marriage lasts was making sure your spouse was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there”.
His comments were immediately condemned by the Fawcett Society and Women’s Aid. Women’s rights group the Fawcett Society said the comments were “sickening” and called for Mr Cleverly to resign. Cleverly’s appalling remarks came just hours after his Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking.
Despite growing calls for Cleverly to resign, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he now considers the matter closed after the Home Secretary apologised.
Asked on Good Morning Britain whether she thought the matter was closed, Thornberry said: “It’s closed, is it? So the Home Secretary, the person who’s supposed to be responsible for the security of all of us and that’s half of us are women, hello, is such a misogynist that he thinks that it’s okay to make a joke about the idea that he can’t have a relationship with women or have sex with women without drugging them first. Ha ha ha.
“That is not funny. That is a really nasty and frightening joke and he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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