A government minister has revealed she has twice had her drinks spiked on nights out.
Mims Davies said she is now pushing the government to bring in tougher punishments for those responsible.
Davies, who is the minister for social mobility, has previously talked about having to be carried home after having something put into her drink in a bar.
But in an interview with former Labour MP Gloria de Piero on GB News, she revealed that it has happened to her on two separate occasions.
She said: “I was on an ordinary night out, and I think that’s what happens for many people – it’s only when they look back and piece things together, they realise something untoward has happened. But I actually had two incidents.
“On one occasion I found a black tablet in the bottom of a glass. I’d been standing in a dark part of a bar where there was music. You’re sort of talking to somebody and holding your drinks, chatting. I happened to go out into the lighter part of the bar and found something in the bottom of my glass and I just thought, ‘ohh, what’s that?’ and threw it away.
“It was only afterwards, and I’d tasted it and thought, oh, it tastes weird. I changed my glass, and it was about 10 minutes later something clicked and I thought, my goodness, what was that?
“But a few years before I totally blacked out and had a totally different experience, which I look back at now, where I had to be carried home, and realise they were two very different events.”
Davies, the MP for Mid Sussex, said she had been contacted by other victims since first going public with her experience in 2021.
“It’s only when women start to talk about it that you realise what danger you could have been in, and that’s what happened to me,” she said.
“I would urge anybody who’s had any kind of experience like this to go to the police. Above all: if you see something in your glass that you’re not expecting, do not just chuck it away and think nothing of it, which I did, which meant we couldn’t check what it was.”
The former safeguarding minister said she was “still feeding very strongly into” Home Office work on bringing in tougher sentences for spiking.
“It’s strong across parties that we want something done,” she said. “I think they are looking at the right way of doing it.
“There are ways of proceeding – not with a specific offence, but I do think for young people there needs to be this understanding that this has a specific impact, and linking that to the offence. I think that has real merit.
“So, I’m watching this closely and I’d like to see it progress.”
The full interview is broadcast on GB News on Sunday at 6pm