What is the betting scandal rocking the heart of the Tory campaign?
Rishi Sunak surprised everyone when he called a 4 July election outside Downing Street in the pouring rain. Meanwhile, some of his closest aides may have been down the bookies cashing in.
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In brief….
- Several key figures in Rishi Sunak’s inner circle are under investigation for allegedly betting on the date the Prime Minister would call the election
- The Conservatives’ head of campaigning has taken an emergency “leave of absence”. It comes just days after Sunak’s parliamentary secretary admitted he slapped a £100 bet on the election date
- This all stinks of “rottenness and stupidity”, the News Agents say.
What on Earth is going on?
You couldn’t make it up.
When Rishi Sunak called a snap election out of the blue, the 4 July date took everyone by surprise. Well, maybe not everyone. And perhaps especially not Tony Lee, the Conservatives' head of campaigning.
Now, he and his wife, Laura Saunders, are being investigated for placing bets on the election date by the Gambling Commission. The date the bet was placed and the alleged amount wagered are currently unknown.
Lee is now on an emergency “leave of absence”. As for Saunders, the investigation could scupper her chances of winning a seat for the Tories in Bristol North West.
But it doesn’t stop there. It comes after Craig Williams, a parliamentary private secretary to Sunak and one of his closest aides, admitted to placing a £100 bet on a 4 July date just three days before the Prime Minister called the election.
And Sunday, it emerged that Nick Mason, the Conservative Party's chief data officer, became the fourth member of the party to be looked into over bets allegedly placed on the date of the general election.
And one of Sunak’s close protection officers has been arrested and is under investigation by the gambling regulator for also having placed a bet on when the election would be.
The move has sent shockwaves through the heart of the Tory campaign and will no doubt deal another blow to Sunak after a series of abysmal polls.
A source in the gambling industry has told Sky's @JonCraig that they are expecting more names to be announced in relation to the alleged election date insider betting scandal.https://t.co/xe3etzhPTI
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 20, 2024
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/mBL91GkO2t
What do the News Agents think?
Jon Sopel says the “mind-spinning nature” of all this stinks of “rottenness”.
There is also an element of “stupidity”, Sopel says.
He adds: “When Rishi Sunak had his first event it looked like Conservative HQ had been caught on the hop, that they didn’t know.
“There were very few people who knew, who looked like they were going down the betting shop while the rest of Conservative HQ didn’t know a thing.
“So when you have the launch of the campaign, Rishi is flanked by the cabinet, there are no banners, no posters, nothing printed, because apart from that tight circle, nobody knew.”
And according to Lewis Goodall, it “doesn’t get crazier”.
He says the scandal has a true “last days of Rome feel to it”.
Now being reported that the Tory campaign director is taking a leave of absence with 2 weeks to polling day because he and his wife, herself a candidate, are being investigated by the gambling commission over betting on the election date. It doesn’t get crazier.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) June 20, 2024
He says.
Well, this is embarrassing…
The Tories have since deleted an attack ad on Labour which had the tagline: “If you bet on Labour, you can never win.”
The video featured a roulette wheel with the red and black pockets with the labels “more debt” or “more tax” written on them. It also had the caption: “If you think Labour will win. Start saving.”