Rishi Sunak 'unaware' of other Tory candidates caught up in betting scandal

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Rishi Sunak has said he was not aware of further Conservative parliamentary candidates being investigated as part of the escalating election betting scandal and had never placed any political bets himself.

The UK prime minister has come under growing pressure, including from within the Tory party, to suspend two candidates caught up in the scandal.

A Gambling Commission probed into bets on the date of the July 4 general election placed before Sunak announced the timing has threatened to derail an already struggling Tory re-election campaign.

Four Conservatives are known to be under investigation: Craig Williams, Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide; Laura Saunders, a party staffer; her husband, Tory campaign director Tony Lee; and Nick Mason, the Tories’ chief data officer. Williams and Saunders are candidates in the general election.

Asked about the saga in Edinburgh on Monday, Sunak said: “We’ve been conducting our own internal inquiries and of course will act on any relevant findings or information from that and pass it on to the Gambling Commission.”

Sunak said he had never placed a bet on politics since he became an MP in 2015 and that he was “not aware” of any other candidates that had placed bets beyond the two already in the public domain.

The Gambling Commission investigation includes hundreds of wagers placed in political gambling markets in May, according to people briefed on the probe.

The regulator is examining wagers where individuals stood to gain more than £199 to identify any potential connections to the Conservative party, they added.

The Financial Times previously reported on an unusual surge in bets before Sunak’s announcement on May 22 of the snap general election.

Former Tory minister Tobias Ellwood on Monday said Sunak should have suspended Williams and Saunders as candidates, noting the “scale of this” and “the potential for the story to continue to eclipse, to overshadow, the election.

“The public wants to see clearer, robust action,” he told the BBC.

Ellwood said the government should go further to “introduce clear rules” against politicians placing bets “as you have in the City in connection to the purchase of stocks and shares for example”.

Former justice secretary Robert Buckland said on radio station LBC he was “deeply hurt” by the unfolding scandal and that Sunak should suspend the people being investigated while the probe was ongoing.

One gambling company voided the bet made by one of the Tories under investigation, meaning they did not profit from the wager, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Under UK gambling laws, “cheating” is a criminal offence. But it is uncertain how this would apply to political betting on the timing of an election.

Between 2005, when the current regime was brought into law, and March 2023, only one person was successfully prosecuted for cheating by the Gambling Commission, the regulator said last year.

A police protection officer has also been arrested for the offense of misconduct in public office after he was contacted by the Gambling Commission relating to a bet he placed on the election.

Williams has apologized for placing a flutter on the election, saying he made a “huge error of judgment”; Saunders said she is cooperating with the investigation and accused the media of breaching her privacy; Lee has declined to comment on an ongoing process; Mason denied any wrongdoing.