General election: Tory former minister says public wants ‘robust action’ from government on betting scandal – UK politics live | General election 2024
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The former Tory minister says the public wants “tough action” from the government over the betting scandal
Good morning. We are early in the last full week of the general election campaign and Rishi Sunak’s campaign, which has been plagued by disaster ever since he declared it wet in torrential rain, is still embroiled in the election date-fixing scandal. Here is our story of one night from Eleni Courea and Matthew Weaver.
This morning Tobias Ellwood, the former minister and Tory candidate in Bournemouth East, said Sunack needed to do more to limit the damage to the party caused by the row. Asked if he thought Sunak should have suspended the two candidates who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission for alleged questionable bets, Ellwood said:
Given the scale of this, as we’re seeing it now, and the potential for the story to continue to overshadow, overshadow the election. Now I would agree.
I’m not sure anyone, including the Prime Minister, could have predicted the number of people involved when the story first came out. Society wants to see clearer, more robust action.
Ellwood acknowledged the party faced a problem. He said it was unclear whether the people under investigation were “in the room when [election date] a decision has been made”, in which case the party can take immediate action. But if they were simply responding to hearsay from Westminster, then it was up to the Gambling Commission to decide whether they were wrong, he said.
But Ellwood said the government could go further to reassure the public. He continued:
Let’s introduce clear rules like you have in the City in relation to buying shares and shares for example, let’s prevent any current politician or party professional from betting in the future. This will send a clear message to the public that this sad incident is being taken seriously and will not happen again.
Ellwood also said the scandal would cost the Conservative Party seats. “I have no doubt about it,” he said.
In a subsequent interview for the program Today, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, who is standing down as an MP, was asked if he thought Sunac should have removed the two candidates under investigation. He answered:
I think what you’re trying to insinuate is that someone is guilty until proven innocent, and that’s not how it works.
Here is the program for the day.
Morning: Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, is visiting South London.
9.20 am: Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson, Shadow Education Secretary, are visiting a school in the East Midlands to take part in a Q&A
10 am: Gavin Robinson presents the DUP manifesto in Belfast.
10 am: The Institute for Fiscal Studies conducts a briefing on the pre-election programs of the parties.
Morning: Rishi Sunak launched Scotch Conservatives election in Edinburgh with Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Tories.
Time for lunch: Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, is holding a rally in Maidstone.
12.30 p.m.: Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, takes part in a debate with Jonathan Reynolds, she Labor shadow, on Bloomberg TV.
17.30: Starmer and Sunak are interviewed side-by-side by Harry Cole, the paper’s political editor, and an audience of Sun TV readers.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all BTL messages, but if you put “Andrew” in a message directed at me, I’m more likely to see it because I’m looking for posts containing that word. If you want to mark something urgent, it’s best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out errors, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting. I can’t promise to answer them all, but I’ll try to answer as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes on the blog.
Key events
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The election date betting scandal first came to light because it was publicized when it was reported that Craig Williams, who was Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary in the last parliament, was being investigated for a bet he made on the July three election days before the announcement of the elections. He told the BBC that it was “huge error of judgement”.
In an interview this morning Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, claimed the party did not know whether Williams had acted on inside knowledge. He told LBC:
It has to be determined whether or not [Williams] had prior knowledge…
He said he made a bet and it was a mistake. We don’t know and I don’t believe anyone knows, maybe the Gambling Commission does… but we don’t know if he did this with prior knowledge or if it was just a hunch or whatever.
The former Tory minister says the public wants “tough action” from the government over the betting scandal
Good morning. We are early in the last full week of the general election campaign and Rishi Sunak’s campaign, which has been plagued by disaster ever since he declared it wet in torrential rain, is still embroiled in the election date-fixing scandal. Here is our story of one night from Eleni Courea and Matthew Weaver.
This morning Tobias Ellwood, the former minister and Tory candidate in Bournemouth East, said Sunack needed to do more to limit the damage to the party caused by the row. Asked if he thought Sunak should have suspended the two candidates who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission for alleged questionable bets, Ellwood said:
Given the scale of this, as we’re seeing it now, and the potential for the story to continue to overshadow, overshadow the election. Now I would agree.
I’m not sure anyone, including the Prime Minister, could have predicted the number of people involved when the story first came out. Society wants to see clearer, more robust action.
Ellwood acknowledged the party faced a problem. He said it was unclear whether the people under investigation were “in the room when [election date] a decision has been made”, in which case the party can take immediate action. But if they were simply responding to hearsay from Westminster, then it was up to the Gambling Commission to decide whether they were wrong, he said.
But Ellwood said the government could go further to reassure the public. He continued:
Let’s introduce clear rules like you have in the City in relation to buying shares and shares for example, let’s prevent any current politician or party professional from betting in the future. This will send a clear message to the public that this sad incident is being taken seriously and will not happen again.
Ellwood also said the scandal would cost the Conservative Party seats. “I have no doubt about it,” he said.
In a subsequent interview for the program Today, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, who is standing down as an MP, was asked if he thought Sunac should have removed the two candidates under investigation. He answered:
I think what you’re trying to insinuate is that someone is guilty until proven innocent, and that’s not how it works.
Here is the program for the day.
Morning: Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, is visiting South London.
9.20 am: Keir Starmer and Bridget Phillipson, Shadow Education Secretary, are visiting a school in the East Midlands to take part in a Q&A
10 am: Gavin Robinson presents the DUP manifesto in Belfast.
10 am: The Institute for Fiscal Studies conducts a briefing on the pre-election programs of the parties.
Morning: Rishi Sunak launched Scotch Conservatives election in Edinburgh with Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Tories.
Time for lunch: Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, is holding a rally in Maidstone.
12.30 p.m.: Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, takes part in a debate with Jonathan Reynolds, she Labor shadow, on Bloomberg TV.
17.30: Starmer and Sunak are interviewed side-by-side by Harry Cole, the paper’s political editor, and an audience of Sun TV readers.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all BTL messages, but if you put “Andrew” in a message directed at me, I’m more likely to see it because I’m looking for posts containing that word. If you want to mark something urgent, it’s best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out errors, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting. I can’t promise to answer them all, but I’ll try to answer as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes on the blog.
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