Rishi Sunak drops two betting scandal candidates

The Prime Minister yesterday withdrew his party’s backing for Craig Williams and Laura Saunders after coming under pressure to take a tougher stance on allegations that politicians used inside information to bet on the timing of the general election.

The gambling watchdog has now passed information to the Metropolitan Police alleging that five more officers had placed bets related to the poll.

Yesterday afternoon Labour suspended its candidate Kevin Craig who is also being investigated by the Gambling Commission regarding suggestions that he had placed a bet on losing the election in his seat.

Both Mr Williams, who had previously served as the Prime Minister’s parliamentary aide, and Ms Saunders no longer have the support of the party but will both remain on the ballot paper in the constituencies they are contesting.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “As a result of ongoing internal inquiries, 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.”

In a video statement Mr Williams said that he had committed an “error of judgement, not an offence”.

He added that he was “fully cooperating with the routine inquiries for the Gambling Commission and I intend to clear my name”.

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard said five more officers – in addition to a member of Mr Sunak’s protection team who was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of misconduct in a public office – were alleged to have placed bets.

Meanwhile the Met said it was “simply untrue” to say the force had leaked the names of people suspected of using inside information to bet on the July 4 date.

A source close to the Cabinet Office told the Daily Telegraph the Gambling Commission is telling the Met “and then almost instantly these names are finding their way to journalists”.

As well as the parliamentary candidates, two senior Tory officials have taken a leave of absence at a crucial point in the election campaign, after being drawn into the Gambling Commission investigation.

Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland minister, called for those who placed bets on the election date to be suspended by the party on Monday night, saying “the Prime Minister would have to answer” for why he had not acted by then.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general, 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.”

The row has overshadowed the Tory election campaign in recent days as Mr Sunak battles to close his party’s 21-point average poll deficit to Labour.

Polling by YouGov found that 60 per cent of the public think that Mr Sunak has handled the betting scandal badly.

Only 3 per cent of potential voters said that he was handling it “very well”.

Three recent opinion polls suggested that Labour is sustaining a large lead over the Conservatives, with Reform UK either behind or slightly in front of the Tories.

Labour’s poll lead ranges from between a 16 to 24 point lead for Sir Keir Starmer’s party ahead of the vote next week.