James Cleverly asked if 'off-colour' date-rape gag shows he's a 'liability'

Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly was asked by Sir Trevor Phillips whether his habit of telling 'off-colour' jokes, including one about date-rape drugs - makes him a liability

Tory leadership candidate James Clevely has been brutally asked if his "off-colour" jokes - including a quip about giving his wife a date-rape drug - make him a "liability".

The Shadow Home Secretary was grilled on why he is less popular with fellow MPs than with the wider public. It follows a string of controversies - including the Sunday Mirror's revelation last December that he'd quipped “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”.

He was also accused of calling Stockton-on-Tees a "s***hole" during a tense debate in the Commons last year - which he denied. Sky News host Sir Trevor Phillips questioned whether this is why MPs put him joint-last in the last round of leadership votes.

Sir Trevor said this was a "puzzle" to him that he was faring so badly. He said: "You are by far and away the most senior of the four candidates, having been Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary. Polls say that you're actually the most popular with the public by a small margin, but still, you're the most popular.

"Yet you got the joint fewest votes from your Parliamentary colleagues. What is it that they know about you that the public doesn't?" Mr Cleverly retorted: "I have been the face and voice of four Prime Ministers, and I have been a team player, which has meant I have had to promote other people's ideas. I was happy to do so. It's what you do as part of a team."

Sir Trevor asked: "It couldn't possibly be that they think that your propensity sometimes to tell off colour jokes - Stockton on Tees, date-rape and all that - they reckon all that could be a liability?"

Mr Cleverly responded: "Well, the British people who have had a chance to see me with all my faults and flaws, I am still the most popular candidate for them.

"And the point is, if you want to get back into Government, we need to appeal to the British people, not just to each other." Mr Cleverly is one of four candidates - also including Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat - vying to succeed Rishi Sunak as Tory leader.

The Tory Party conference begins today in Birmingham, when the four will make their pitch to members. Mr Cleverly faces questions after the Sunday Mirror revealed that when he was Home Secretary the Tories planned to spend £30million sending 200 volunteers to Rwanda ahead of the election.

In the last round of MP votes Mr Jenrick picked up 33 votes, Ms Badenoch 28, with Mr Cleverly and Mr Tugendhat each getting 21.