A fourth Conservative Party is being investigated over election-time gambling allegations
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A fourth Conservative Party staffer is being investigated by the Gambling Commission for match-time betting. General election in Julyaccording to a party member.
Nick Mason, the Conservative Party’s chief data officer, has taken a leave of absence as the regulator investigates his possible use of privileged information to bet on the vote, people close to the party said.
The shocking betting scandal Chancellor Rishi SunakThe party’s Conservative Party is trying to revive its struggling campaign with less than two weeks to go before the general election.
Sunak is facing harsh criticism over his handling of the story, as there are growing calls for him to suspend party figures being investigated by the Gambling Commission.
Three Conservative Party members have been investigated: Craig Williams, Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide; Laura Saunders, a party worker; and her husband, Tory campaign manager Tony Lee.
Among them, Williams and Saunders are still candidates in the election.
An unnamed police officer working in Sunak’s defense team was also arrested last week over “alleged betting” made on the election.
Sunak said he was “extremely angry” when he learned of the allegations.
“It’s a really serious problem. It is true that they are being properly investigated by the relevant law enforcement agencies, including a criminal investigation by the police,” he told the audience when asked about the matter.
Michael Gove said that the scandal had “sucked the oxygen out of the campaign” and that “some individuals ended up creating an extremely damaging atmosphere for the party”.
“It seems like one rule for them and one rule for us,” he told the Sunday Times. “Realize that we operate outside the rules we set for others. That was damaging at the time of Partygate and is damaging here.”
The investigation into Mason, first reported by the Sunday Times, is the latest in a series of blunders that have rocked the Tory campaign since Sunak called a rains-out election on the 22nd. May.
One of the most damaging was the prime minister’s decision to leave France’s D-Day commemorations early to attend a television interview, a decision for which he was forced to apologize profusely.
Asked about the gambling regulator’s investigation into Mason, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “In accordance with Gambling Commission instructions, we are not authorized to discuss any matters in connection with any investigation with the subject or any other person”.
