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Ex-Tory MP among 15 charged with placing bets on timing of General Election

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ex-tory-mp-among-15-charged-placing-bets-timing-general-election

A sign for a polling station at Magdalen Hill Cemetery near Winchester, Hampshire, July 4, 2024

FORMER Tory MP Craig Williams was among 15 people charged today in connection to bets placed on the timing of the general election last May.

Russell George, the Tory Senedd member for Montgomeryshire, and Nick Mason, a former chief data officer for the party, are also facing charges.

Welsh Conservatives leader Darren Millar said he had suspended Mr George from the Welsh Conservative Group in the Senedd.

“The suspension is a neutral act pending the outcome of the justice process,” he said.

The Gambling Commission began its investigation in June, focusing on “individuals suspected of using confidential information — specifically advance knowledge of the proposed election date — to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets.”

Laura Saunders, a Tory candidate for Bristol North West, and former Conservative party chief marketing officer Simon Chatfield, were also among those charged with offences under the Gambling Act 2005.

They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 13.

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Fifteen Tories investigated in betting scandal probe

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak making a speech at an event at Petyt Hall, London, while on the General Election campaign trail, June 24, 2024

UP TO 15 Tories are now being investigated in the insider betting scandal, it emerged today.

According to BBC Newsnight, the Gambling Commission is looking at 15 candidates and senior officials in their inquiry into bets placed on the election date.

The Tory Party itself “could not confirm how many of their officials or candidates might be facing scrutiny.”

Two Conservative candidates have already been suspended and two top campaign organisers have been placed on leave of absence because of the probe, which has also caught up several police in the Premier’s security detail.

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Labour has become embroiled too, with its candidate in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Kevin Craig suspended after admitting that he had bet against himself winning the seat.

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Fourth Tory suspended in betting scandal

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A Conservative Party rosette, May 6, 2016

PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak’s gambling crisis plunged to a fresh low today after another senior Tory official was suspended.

Chief data officer Nick Mason joined campaigns director Tony Lee on leave of absence from the floundering campaign amid claims that they placed bets on the date of the election.

And Home Secretary James Cleverly could only say without certainty that he had “no reason to believe” that cabinet ministers were in on the scam.

The sleaze row threatened to entirely overshadow the Conservative campaign as senior Tories admitted the row was damaging them.

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