LONDON – The campaign chief for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives stepped aside two weeks before an election, the party said on June 20, after reports he and his candidate wife were being investigated for betting on the election date.
The rapidly escalating gambling scandal is the latest misfortune to unfold for Mr Sunak, who is forecast to lose power on July 4 after a campaign characterised by gaffes that followed his surprise announcement of an early vote.
The Conservative Party confirmed that campaign director Tony Lee had taken a leave of absence. The statement followed news reports that the Gambling Commission was looking into allegations of improper betting by Lee and his wife Laura Saunders, a candidate in Bristol.
British bookmakers allow bets on politics, and the timing of an election is a popular bet. But placing bets with insider knowledge is a crime.
“We have been contacted by the Gambling Commission about a small number of individuals. As the Gambling Commission is an independent body, it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded,” a Conservative spokesperson said.
The scandal has already engulfed another Conservative parliamentary candidate Craig Williams, a close aide to Mr Sunak, who apologised last week for placing a bet on when the election would happen.
Polls forecast the Conservatives are set to lose the July 4 election, potentially in an historic wipeout.
Mr Sunak’s party was already far behind in the polls when he announced the election, and has failed to narrow the gap after a campaign marred by blunders, including a decision by the prime minister to leave early from a ceremony for the anniversary of D-Day.
A police officer working in a special protection unit has been arrested over alleged bets made on the timing of Britain’s national election in July, London police said on June 19.
The BBC reported that the officer worked as part of Mr Sunak’s close protection team.
The Metropoliton Police said it was contacted by Britain’s betting regulator, the Gambling Commission, on June 14 over an investigation into “alleged bets made by a police constable from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command, which were related to the timing of the general election”.
The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards opened an investigation and the officer was suspended, it said. He was then arrested on June 17 on suspicion of misconduct in public office and taken into custody before being bailed.
Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party campaign team said the issue was a matter for the police.
Senior Conservative minister Michael Gove told LBC Radio it was “beyond bad to use insider information like that to secure an advantage”.
Last week, a British lawmaker and close aide to Mr Sunak apologised after he placed a bet on when the election would happen, also triggering an investigation by the gambling regulator.
The Guardian reported that Mr Craig Williams, who is standing for a parliamentary seat in Wales, bet £100 (S$172) that Mr Sunak would call an election for July, just days before he did. Mr Williams stood to win £500, the report said.
He has said he made an error of judgement.
The July 4 date of the vote came as a surprise to most lawmakers and voters, who had expected an autumn election. REUTERS
