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It’s ten days until polls open and the Conservative Party’s attempts to shift the election conversation away from the gambling scandal are once again falling short.
Rishi Sunak is in Edinburgh today to launch the Scottish Tories’ election manifesto, telling voters in Scotland they have the opportunity to “put independence on the backburner for a generation” on 4 July. “A vote for the Scottish Conservatives is a vote to put this issue to bed”, the prime minister said, “to move past these tired and stale arguments and to go forward united and together.”
But Sunak’s subsequent commentary on “Gamblegate”, prompted by journalists’ questioning, proved rather more newsworthy. Speaking on the campaign trail after the Scottish Tory manifesto launch, the PM revealed that his party is conducting its own investigation into the betting allegations surrounding the party.
He clarified that he is not aware of any further candidates being looked into than those who were named last week — and confirmed he himself is not being investigated.
In total, four Conservative candidates and officials are currently being investigated by the Gambling Commission — the last one named was the party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason.
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This latest revelation, first reported by The Sunday Times, alleged Mason had placed dozens of bets with potential winnings worth thousands of pounds. The news came after it emerged that Tony Lee, the party’s director of campaigns, and his wife Laura Saunders, the candidate for Bristol North West, are also under investigation by the Gambling Commission — alongside Craig Williams, the PM’s parliamentary private secretary and candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr.
However, the prime minister is still refusing to suspend Williams and Saunders, insisting he “will act on any relevant findings or information” from both the Conservative and Gambling Commission investigations.
But pressure is building on Sunak to take a more authoritative stance, with senior Tory and former minister Tobias Ellwood calling on the PM to distance the party from the accused candidates.
Ellwood said he had “no doubt” that the controversy will cost his party seats at next week’s election, as he urged the PM to withdraw formal party backing from Craig Williams and Laura Saunders.
Questioned on this point, Ellwood told the BBC this morning: “Given the scale of this as we see now, and the potential for this story to continue to eclipse, to overshadow the election, I would now agree [we need to suspend Williams and Saunders].”
Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer has accused Sunak of trying to “kick this [scandal] into the long grass on the other side of the election.” He argued an investigation into who had placed bets should have been launched last week and need “only take half an hour”.
Gamblegate, Starmer added, “goes to the heart of what the Tories have become”.
That is the big worry for Conservatives up and down the country: Gamblegate, at this most politically inopportune moment, is strengthening the party’s reputation for grubbiness.
Elsewhere, Reform leader Nigel Farage addressed a campaign event in Kent this morning, where he doubled down on his widely criticised claims about NATO’s role in the build-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Reform leader pointedly hit back at former PM Boris Johnson’s criticism of his comments, branding him the “worst prime minister of modern times”. More on that here.
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