Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide when he was prime minister has been charged along with 14 others with election betting offences.
The 15, also including a current Welsh Senedd member and a former police officer, have been charged with cheating related to bets placed on the timing of the 2024 general election.
They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 10am this Friday to face the charges.
The Gambling Commission said its investigation, which began in June last year, “focused on individuals suspected of using confidential information – specifically advance knowledge of the proposed election date – to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets”.
It opened the investigation after MP Craig Williams, Mr Sunak’s former parliamentary private secretary, admitted placing a Β£100 bet on 19 May 2024 that the election would be in July.
Mr Sunak announced the general election would be on 4 July, three days after Williams, who was also an election candidate, placed the bet.
Williams, who was dropped as a candidate, admitted last June to placing a “flutter” on the election and said he “committed a serious error of judgement, not an offence”.
The Metropolitan Police then opened an inquiry, after being contacted by the Gambling Commission.
During the election campaign, other Conservative candidates and staff, and a Labour candidate were drawn into the Gambling Commission’s investigation.
They included:
β’ Tony Lee, director of Conservative Party campaigning
β’ Laura Saunders, Mr Lee’s wife and Conservative candidate for Bristol North West who was then dropped
β’ Nick Mason, Conservative Party chief data officer
β’ Russell George, Welsh Conservative Senedd member for Montgomeryshire
Labour candidate Kevin Craig was included in the investigation after placing a bet that he would lose his bid to become an MP, but was cleared of any wrongdoing in December.
In August 2024, the Met said they would not be charging any of the political figures or seven police officers with misconduct in public office, but they remained under investigation by the Gambling Commission into whether they had broken criminal gambling laws.
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