The former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg has accused Theresa May of "ostrich-like sticking her head in the sand" over the reform of drug laws.
Clegg, who served alongside May when she was home secretary in the coalition government, said the main obstacle to much-needed reform was that politicians on the right were afraid of the "political hassle" of changing the law.
Speaking at a lunch hosted by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, of which he is a member, Clegg said: "I experienced coalition with the Conservatives, and I couldn't find a sensible Conservative who didn't privately entirely agree that the law is a complete ass and everything should be changed. They just didn't think it was worth the political hassle.
"Our current prime minister is the exception. She is, genuinely and authentically, ostrich-like sticking her head in the sand. But most - [David] Cameron, [George] Osborne, [Oliver] Letwin, all those people - they don't need persuading of the case, they just need persuading that it's politically worth doing anything about it."
The commission, set up in 2011, counts among its 25 commissioners the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, a number of former senior officials from the UN, and former presidents of Nigeria, Switzerland, Poland, Chile and Colombia.
