UK PM hopefuls recount times on banned drugs

Prominent Conservative politicians, who are competing to become the next British prime minister, have come forward to say how they used banned drugs like cocaine, cannabis and opium.

The former leader of Commons Andrea Leadsom said on Saturday that she used to smoke cannabis when she was at the university a day after Environment Secretary Michael Gove said he regretted taking cocaine when he was a young journalist.

“Everyone is entitled to a private life before becoming an MP. I smoked weed at university and have never smoked it again since,” said Leadsom while speaking to the Independent.

Leadsom said, however, that she never took cocaine like Gove, a senior Conservative seeking to replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.

Gove said on Friday that he was on cocaine some 20 years ago when he went to social gatherings as a journalist. He expressed hope, however, that his history as a user of a major banned drug would not disqualify him from the tight race to become next leader of the Tory Party.

“It was a mistake. I look back and I think I wish I hadn’t done that ... It was 20 years ago and yes, it was a mistake. But I don’t believe that past mistakes disqualify you,” he said.

Gove was criticized on Saturday for his hypocrisy in admitting to cocaine abuse while he repeatedly seeking to criminalize others for using it.

"Rank hypocrisy of minister admitting to 'mistakes' on drug use while backing policies that perpetuate harm,” Green Party MP Caroline Lucas wrote on Twitter, adding, "From locking up disproportionate number of young, black men, to treating drug misuse as crime rather than health issue, prohibition fails us all."

International development secretary Rory Stewart also admitted last week that he once made a "stupid mistake" to smoke opium.  

Former foreign minister Boris Johnson, the top chance to become next prime minister in the UK, has also admitted in the past that he tried cocaine and cannabis as a teenager at Oxford. Incumbent foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has told the Times that he once had a cannabis drink in India.

PressTV-‘Majority of UK voters against Johnson premiership’

Recent polls show majority of voters in the UK think Boris Johnson will make a “bad PM”.

The revelations about drug use among UK Conservative politicians, all of them contenders to become prime minister, comes amid a general distrust towards the ruling party as it seeks to steer Britain out of the European Union as demanded by a 2016 referendum.

The party has lost much of its public support after a failure of May’s government to deliver on Brexit, prompting voters to shift to other parties in recent local and EU parliament elections.

Gove and Johnson are expected to make it to the final round of the Tory leadership race in late July.

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