As the United Kingdom elections approach, the lingering political betting scandal continues to cast a shadow on the parties involved. This state of affairs remains as the parties head into the final campaign weekend before the voting day. It is widely anticipated that the Labour party will take over the reins of the government following this election.
Rishi Sunak, the Conservative party’s leader and current prime minister, declined to confirm on Thursday if he had supplied Craig Williams, his parliamentary private secretary and a Member of Parliament, with the voting date of July 4th ahead of public disclosure.
Notably, a £100 (€118) bet on a July election with odds of 5/1 was placed by Mr Williams just three days before the election was announced. Later on, Ladbrokes, the betting company, forwarded this bet to the UK’s Gambling Commission given its authority to review bets suspected to be based on insider information.
The UK election gambling probe that sprung from this issue has since expanded to scrutinize bets placed by six high-ranking Tories, a minimum of seven officers from London Metropolitan Police – which include a bodyguard of the prime minister, and at least one Labour candidate.
During a Derbyshire campaign occasion on Thursday, Mr Sunak faced a Sky News inquiry about what he had relayed to Mr Williams concerning the election date. Despite the prime minister’s reluctance to provide an answer, for fear of compromising the ongoing investigation by the Gambling Commission, he was reassured by Sam Coates – the Sky reporter, that he could share the information without jeopardizing a jury trial, as there was none in this case.
[Sunak says it’s ‘appropriate’ to wait for the outcome of the betting allegations investigation before making any move]
Criticism towards how the prime minister is managing the betting scandal has been heard, even from his party members such as Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland Office’s secretary of state. Mr Baker is currently campaigning to keep his seat in Wycombe, where the ongoing surveys show the Labour party to be strongly favored to seize his position.
It was revealed on Thursday by news site Huffington Post, that Mr Baker – a staunch Brexit supporter who became one of the key negotiators with the Irish Government in pursuit of a deal, intends to mount a leadership campaign for the Tory party if he can successfully retain his seat.
Mr. Baker expressed to a news portal that his colleagues have sought his guidance four times in varying instances of crisis – during the voting period, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, and concerning the expenses of net zero. Although he foresees a potential loss of his position, he remains unhurried and awaits the outcome. On another note, the British National Party’s past associate, Raymond Saint, has been discarded as a candidate by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, following the revelation of his prior affiliations. Reform UK explained that Raymond Saint, who was to represent them in Basingstoke, had failed to disclose his previous ties with BNP. According to recent polls, it appears as though Labour is set for an overwhelming triumph in the upcoming Thursday elections, marking a possible end to the Tory reign that has lasted 14 years in the UK.