Scottish Secretary Alister Jack should be barred from going to the House of Lords for “totally and utterly unethical” behaviour betting on the timing of the General Election, Scotland’s First Minister has said.
John Swinney accused Mr Jack of having used information he “gleaned around the cabinet table” when gambling on the date of the poll.
Mr Jack has already said he had no knowledge of when the election would take place until Rishi Sunak fired the starting gun on the campaign on May 22.
The Scottish Secretary, who is not standing for re-election, has also said he did not break Gambling Commission rules with bets he placed.
However, with there having been speculation that the Tory minister will be given a place in the House of Lords after the election, Mr Swinney made clear that should not happen.
READ MORE: John Swinney: Scotland is still suffering from Margaret Thatcher era
The SNP leader said Mr Jack was “unfit to be a minister full stop”, claiming he had been “terrible as a minister” in his time in office.
Mr Swinney, who was campaigning in Edinburgh on Thursday, told the PA news agency: “Crucially also, Alister Jack has got a seat lined up for himself in the House of Lords. There’s no way he should be going to the House of Lords, absolutely no way.
“Because he has taken information he has gleaned from around the cabinet table and then gone off to the bookies.
“It is just so totally and utterly unethical, an individual that can do that is unfit to be a lawmaker in the United Kingdom.”
Mr Swinney insisted the Scottish Secretary “should not go anywhere near the House of Lords”, adding there was “no case for him to go there”.
The First Minister said: “He has taken information he has gleaned around the cabinet table and then gone to the bookies. That is unethical and people like that shouldn’t be in the House of Lords.”
His comments came after Mr Jack confirmed earlier this week that he had placed a £20 bet in April at odds of 5/1 on an election being held between July and September – with the Scottish Secretary stressing he had no knowledge of when the election would be at the time he made the wager.
He also said that in March he had placed two unsuccessful bets of £5 on the vote being held in May and June respectively.
Mr Jack, who is not seeking re-election, was clear he “did not place any bets on the date of the general election during May – the period under investigation by the Gambling Commission”.
He has told the BBC: “I am very clear that I have never, on any occasion, broken any Gambling Commission rules.
“Furthermore, I am not aware of any family or friends placing bets. I have nothing more to say on this matter.”
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