The UK home secretary, James Cleverly, has conceded that a pre-Christmas “joke” he made about spiking his wife’s drink with a “date rape” drug could have distracted from his department’s work to tackle violence against women and girls.
In his first public appearances since comments made at a Downing Street reception prompted calls for his resignation, Cleverly reiterated an apology for what he described as a joke and sought to emphasise his record in government on bringing forward policies to help women and girls.
