The Conservatives have “withdrawn support” from two candidates accused of betting on the timing of the general election.
There has been mounting pressure on Rishi Sunak to act on the gambling scandal that has derailed his election campaign in recent days.
A number of senior Tories questioned why the Prime Minister had not suspended Craig Williams, who was the Prime Minister’s parliamentary aide, and Laura Saunders who is standing in Bristol North West.
Six police officers are also alleged to have placed bets.
READ MORE: Fourth Tory official probed in General Election betting claims
On Tuesday morning, a Tory 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.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Why didn’t that happen a week ago?”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “This should have happened immediately when these scandalous revelations emerged, but instead Rishi Sunak has dithered and delayed.
“Sunak must confirm immediately that these candidates will not have the Conservative whip if elected.”
As the deadline for nominations has closed, both will still be on the ballot paper as Conservatives.
As well as the 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.
READ MORE: Our cartoonist Steven Camley’s take on betting scandal
Ms Saunders’ husband Tony Lee, the party’s director of campaigning, and chief data officer Nick Mason, have stepped back from their duties.
And a police officer who served in the Prime Minister’s protection team has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over alleged bets on the election date.
Steve Baker became the first serving minister to call for those who placed bets on the election date to be suspended by the party, on Monday night.
The Northern Ireland minister told ITV’s Peston that Mr Sunak should take action: “I would call them up and ask them, ‘Did you do it?’ And if they did it, then they are suspended.
“But the Prime Minister would have to answer why he hasn’t done it, I haven’t got inside information on why the Prime Minister hasn’t done it.”
However, before the party’s announcement, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross defended the Prime Minister’s lack of action, saying it was important that the Gambling Commission e allowed to finish their inquiry.
He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: “Well, I think this scandal has been an unacceptable incident in the campaign and I want the Gambling Commission to do their job as quickly as they can to look at all the details and come to a conclusion.”
READ MORE: Sunak ‘not aware’ of other Tory candidates facing probe over betting allegations
Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon 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.
The officers are based on the Royalty and Specialist Command, the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and the Central West Basic Command Unit, but none of them work in a close protection role
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel