Political betting is allowed in the UK, but using insider knowledge to do so is against the law. (File)
London:
The campaign director of Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservatives has resigned following reports that he and his wife were under investigation for allegedly betting on the date of the UK general election.
Conservative campaign headquarters said on Thursday that Tony Lee “took a leave of absence” on Wednesday, and the Gambling Commission was investigating “a number of individuals”.
The regulator made no mention of identities, but the BBC reported that Lee and his wife Laura Saunders, who is standing as a candidate in the July 4 election, were under investigation.
Her lawyers said she would “cooperate with the Gambling Commission” and claimed the report violated her privacy rights.
The committee was already looking into allegations that another candidate for MP, Craig Williams, who served as Sunak’s ministerial adviser, bet £100 ($127) in the run-up to the call-up.
London’s Metropolitan Police also said that one of Sunak’s bodyguards – a police officer – was arrested for allegedly placing a bet on the date.
Political betting is allowed in the UK, including on election dates, but using insider knowledge to do so is against the law.
The formal investigation adds further misery to Sunak, whose party has trailed Labor by around 20 points in the polls for almost two years, increasing the chances of him being removed from office after 14 years.
During the campaign, senior minister Michael Gove admitted to journalists that the situation “doesn’t look good”, even though he could not comment on the details.
But he previously said the “broad principle” of using inside information to place bets was “reprehensible”.
Labor leader Keir Starmer, tipped to succeed Sunak at Downing Street, urged the prime minister to withdraw his support for those allegedly involved.
“It’s astonishing that we are in this place… The government, Rishi Sunak, just needs to act. It needs to account for exactly who knows what,” he said.
Labor campaign coordinator Pat McFadden wrote separately to Sunak and said the allegations were “a pattern of behaviour” by the Conservatives focused on making “a quick profit”.
Ed Davey, who leads the smaller Liberal Democrats, said the allegations smack of “corruption”. “You have to have a heavy hand from the top,” he added.
Destroy?
Sunak announced the election date on May 22 in a rain-soaked statement outside Downing Street, catching his own party by surprise as it still had six months to call a vote.
Critics criticized him for not using an umbrella and the campaign has barely turned in his favor since then, even with indications that the British economy has turned a corner.
A reporter asked him if he was the captain of a sinking ship at a photo shoot in Belfast, close to where the doomed Titanic was built.
This week he was ignored by a flock of sheep as he tried to feed them in southwest England, although personally his audience suffered after he left an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day early.
Two polls published on Wednesday predicted a record victory for the Labor Party, surpassing even former leader Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997, and a historic defeat for the Conservatives.
Pollsters YouGov said the Conservatives could fall to the “lowest number of seats in the party’s nearly 200-year history”.
Sunak could even become the first sitting prime minister to lose his seat, according to research by Savanta.
The Metropolitan Police said its officer, a member of the Royal and Specialist Protection Command, was detained on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released on bail.
The force referred it to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
The allegations against Williams came to light last week. He reportedly placed a bet on the July election date, three days before Sunak called the vote.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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