Tories lastly ditch two candidates in election betting scandal

The Tories have finally ditched two election candidates who are under investigation for allegedly betting on the timing of the General Election.

After almost two weeks of dithering, Rishi Sunak has withdrawn his support for his parliamentary aide Craig Williams, who is standing to be MP in Montgomeryshire & Glyndwr, and Laura Saunders, who is standing for Bristol North West. The PM has been under increasing pressure to suspend the Tory candidates after it emerged the Gambling Commission was looking into them for alleged bets on the date of the General Election. After hearing the news, Keir Starmer responded: “Why didn’t that happen a week ago?”

Another two Tories – who work in the party’s HQ – are being probed for alleged bets and have taken a leave of absence from their roles. They are the party’s chief data officer Nick Mason and the party’s campaign chief Tony Lee, the husband of Ms Saunders. A police officer in Mr Sunak’s close protection team was also arrested on suspicion for misconduct in public office and suspended from his post after allegedly making a bet.

The scandal first broke on June 12, when Mr Williams admitted he had “put a flutter” on the timing of the election. A week later the probe into the police officer was revealed, with the investigations into Mr Lee and Ms Saunders emerging the day after – five days ago from the time of writing.

It emerged on Tuesday that five other police officers are also understood to be being probed by the Gambling Commission over alleged bets. Scotland Yard was officially told the date of the General Election before it was publicly announced to give the police force enough time to ensure security provisions were in place for the start of the campaign, sources said.

It is claimed the Gambling Commission handed the names of the Tory suspects to the Met police before their identities were made public. The Met Police has been forced to deny accusations it leaked the identities of Tories to the press.

Labour’s Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth said: “It is yet another example of Rishi Sunak’s staggeringly weak leadership that it has taken him nearly two weeks to see what was obvious to everyone else. The Conservatives who sought to line their own pockets by betting on the election date are not fit to be candidates for parliament.

“Rishi Sunak now needs to come clean with voters across the country and tell them exactly how many of his Conservatives are implicated and who they are. Just as with Partygate and the PPE scandal, the Conservatives believe it is one rule for them, another for everyone else. Change is in the hands of people across the country: but to get it, they have to vote Labour on 4 July.”

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said: “This should have happened immediately when these scandalous revelations emerged, but instead Rishi Sunak has dithered and delayed. From the mini budget to this gambling scandal, the Conservatives have bet against Britain and now face a reckoning at the ballot box on 4th July.”

A Conservative Party spokesman: “As a result of ongoing internal enquiries, we have concluded that we can no longer support Craig Williams or Laura Saunders as Parliamentary Candidates at the forthcoming General Election. We have checked with the Gambling Commission that this decision does not compromise the investigation that they are conducting, which is rightly independent and ongoing.”