Priti Patel says there is 'no such thing' as dabbling in drugs, despite Boris Johnson and other cabinet members having admitted dabbling in drugs
Priti Patel has insisted there is “no such thing as dabbling in drugs”, despite a Conservative cabinet minister and Boris Johnson previously admitting to trying illegal substances.
The remark from the home secretary came as she outlined the government’s new hardline immigration plans, which will make it difficult for low-skilled migrants to work in the UK after the Brexit transition period.
Appearing on Sky News’s Kay Burley show, Ms Patel was pressed on the recent attempted deportations of “serious offenders” to Jamaica, including one who had been in the UK from the age of five and “got involved dabbling” in drugs, the presenter said.
Ms Patel replied: “Well, I think first of all those crimes that were committed – there’s no such thing as dabbling in drugs – these are serious offences that were committed.”
Her comments prompted ridicule, however, with some pointing out that Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, admitted to taking cocaine as a young journalist, and Mr Johnson’s conflicting statements on the Class A drug.
“I took drugs on several occasions at social events more than 20 years ago,” Mr Gove told the Daily Mail as the Tory leadership race kicked off last summer. “At the time I was a young journalist. It was a mistake. I look back and I think, I wish I hadn’t done that.”
Boris Johnson also dodged questions over whether he had used cocaine – despite previously admitting he had while at university – during the the Conservative leadership contest.
Quizzed whether he had ever taken cocaine, the then-Tory backbencher replied: “I think the canonical account of this event when I was 19 has appeared many times and I think what most people in this country really want us to focus on is what we can do for them and what our plans are for this great country of ours.”
During an appearance on the BBC’s Have I Got News For You in 2005, Mr Johnson said: “I think I was once given cocaine but I sneezed and so it did not go up my nose… In fact, I may have been doing icing sugar.”
But in an interview with Piers Morgan for GQ magazine in 2007, Mr Johnson added: “Yes. I tried it at university and I remember it vividly. And it achieved no pharmacological, psycho-tropical or any other effect on me whatsoever.”
Pressed on whether he had taken any other drugs, including “dope”, Mr Johnson replied: “Cannabis, you mean? Yes, I have.”
Labour MP David Lammy said: “Today Priti Patel said ’there’s no such thing as dabbling in drugs, these are serious offences. Last summer, 7 out of 11 Tory leadership hopefuls, including Boris Johnson, admitted they dabbled in drugs.”
“Why is it one rule for cabinet members and another for my constituents?”
The Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine added: “I would love to be a fly on thew wall when Priti Patel tells some of her cabinet colleagues this. Perhaps for once they might understand the alarm her remarks cause amongst the public.
“The same old Tory hypocrisy of one rule for them and another for everyone else should be left in the past,” she said.
No 10 was approached for comment.
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