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”. Conversations at Downing Street receptions are usually understood to be “off the record” but the Sunday Mirror decided to break that convention because of Cleverly’s position and the subject matter. A spokesperson for the home secretary said: “In what was always understood as a private conversation, James, the home secretary, tackling spiking made what was clearly meant to be an ironic joke – for which he apologises.” Cleverly met his wife, Susie, at university and the couple have two children. Senior Labour figures criticised Cleverly’s “appalling” comments. Alex Davies-Jones, the shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said: “‘It was a joke’ is the most tired excuse in the book and no one is buying it. “If the home secretary is serious about tackling spiking, and violence against women and girls, then that requires a full cultural change. The ‘banter’ needs to stop and it has to start at the top.” The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “Spiking is a disturbing and serious crime which is having a devastating impact on young women’s lives. It is truly unbelievable that the home secretary made such appalling jokes on the very same day the government announced new policy on spiking.” Ministers have pledged to modernise the language used in legislation to make clear that spiking is a crime and announced a series of other measures as part of a crackdown. But they stopped short of making spiking a specific offence. In November, Cleverly apologised in the Commons for using “inappropriate language” towards Labour MP Alex Cunningham but denied he called the latter’s Stockton constituency a “shit-hole”. The MP for Braintree in Essex, who replaced Suella Braverman as home secretary, told MPs: “I know what I said. I rejected the accusation that I criticised his constituency.” He added: “My criticism, which I made from a sedentary position, about the honourable gentleman used inappropriate language for which I apologise.”