Confessions of a Tory leadership hopeful

The Tory leadership race is on and while it can be hard to keep track of the growing number of candidates entering the race, it is even trickier to stay on top of the lurid confessions of wrongdoing made by those who want to be PM. To help out, here is Mr S’s full and comprehensive guide to the confessions of a Tory leadership hopeful:

Michael Gove

The environment secretary was the latest top Tory to confess to mischief yesterday, admitting that he took cocaine several times when he was a young journalist. Gove said he ‘deeply regrets’ doing so and that his ‘mistake’ should not be held against him.

Rory Stewart

If his impromptu videos and roaming Q and A tours of Britain aren’t enough to win him the limelight, Rory Stewart’s confession of drug-taking has certainly done just that. Stewart admitted to taking a puff on an opium pipe at a wedding in Iran 15 years ago. He told Sky News: ‘I made a stupid mistake – I was at a wedding in a large community meeting and somebody passed round this pipe and I smoked it. I shouldn’t have done it, it was wrong.’ 

Jeremy Hunt:

The Foreign Secretary also admitted taking drugs while on an overseas trip. Hunt confessed to having a cannabis lassi on a backpacking jaunt to India. He told the the Times: ‘I think I had a cannabis lassi (drink) when I went backpacking through India’. Hunt also went on to take a pop at the PM, adding that it was ‘almost as naughty as wheatfields’.

 Boris Johnson:

He might be the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, but Boris’ input into the contest has been relatively limited so far. That being said, he has at the very least matched Theresa May’s exploits – having been pictured running through a wheat field last year. Still, Mr S. is willing to bet that he has done worse. And Boris has previously admitted to trying cocaine and cannabis while at Oxford university. He told GQ back in 2007: ‘I tried it at university and I remember it vividly. And it achieved no pharmacological, psychotropic or any other effect on me whatsoever.’

Dominic Raab:

Dominic Raab took the Jeremy Hunt approach when asked the same question about what was the worst thing he has ever done. The former Brexit secretary told the Times: ‘Put it this way, anything sufficiently naughty I wouldn’t confess.’ Raab has subsequently confessed to taking cannabis as a student but said he had ‘never taken cocaine or any class A drugs’.

Matt Hancock:

Andrea Leadsom:

The Tory leadership hopeful also confessed to drug taking while she was a student. Leadsom said: ‘I smoked weed at university and have never smoked it again since’. She added: ‘Everyone is entitled to a private life before becoming an MP. I smoked weed at university and have never smoked it again since’.