On Wednesday, it emerged that the Metropolitan Police has taken on an additional significant role in investigating bets made by senior politicians and officials following the general election.
Amid angry exchanges with the prime minister about taxation, immigration or even transgender rights plans, Starmer led the Conservatives on which data to forecast the election months before the election is announced. Was suspected of using. He said this reflected the country’s “wrong tendency to misjudge time”.
Described by a senior Conservative figure, Baroness Ruth Davidson, as close to political “insider trading”, allegations that some party officials had taken bets in the month leading up to the election, which marked the last day of the Conservative government and ended 14 tumultuous years. Were eager to pursue. job site.
“First of all, I mean, how dirty is it?” Davidson expressed anger on Friday’s Sky News Electoral Disorder podcast over recent allegations that his birthday party was ruined by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s leadership from 2022.
Davidson, the former head of the Scottish Conservative Birthday Party in the devolved Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, said: “I’m literally at a loss for words. I have been contesting elections for more than 15 years and I am at a loss for words.
What is the scam about?
Allegations that some Conservative candidates and officials had anticipated Britain’s July 4 general election month, it was no secret that two weeks earlier Sunak’s ally Craig Williams had offered 100 pounds ($127). The bet was placed on the vote being held in July, just days before Sunak told the British public it was voting month.
So far, five Conservative officials have been named under investigation by the Gambling Commission (GC) for allegedly using party knowledge to bet on the July election.
The GC, the UK body responsible for regulating UK sporting rules, is believed to be investigating 15 Conservative Party applicants and officials for allegedly placing bets around election time.
In an independent but similar statement, Alistair Jack, the Scottish Secretary of the Conservative Party, admitted making a number of small election month bets during March and April – although he insisted he had breached antitrust laws and Mentioned that he used to do this. Now not under scrutiny through GC.
In a twist in the betting scandal, The Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday that another Conservative, Philip Davis, bet 8,000 pounds ($10,115) that he would lose his marginal seat of Shipley in West Yorkshire after the election. Davis told Soler that he “fully expected to lose” his seat to Labor, who was projected to win, and said it was “nobody’s business” if he decided to bet against himself.
The Labor Party has not emerged completely unscathed from the betting scandal. Kevin Craig was stripped of his candidacy by the Labor Party on Tuesday after it became clear he was under investigation by the GC for betting that he would lose his bid to become an MP. Central Suffolk and North Ipswich after the election.
Which five conservatives are being investigated for gambling?
Williams, the first person to come under investigation by the Playing Commission (GC), was given status as the Conservative Party candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr in Wales when he came under investigation.
The 39-year-old admitted he made a “huge error in judgement” in trying to make money by placing his £100 guess in election month at odds of 5-1, which would have meant he would have made a £500 profit. kg ($633). He has no longer hidden whether he was aware of the election month before making his guess, although the betting company Ladbrokes, with whom he placed the bet, refused to check the guesses and then marked them down. . as a “politically exposed person”, and referred the matter to the GC.
Laura Saunders was the second party to come under GC scrutiny as she campaigned as the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West. Saunders was soon joined by her husband, Tony Lee, the Conservative Party’s publicity director, who took leave of absence after it emerged that he was being additionally investigated by the GC.
On Tuesday, Williams and Saunders were both dropped as candidates by their party, but are still contesting their respective seats, meaning that, if elected, they will be independents in the Commons. Will sit properly.
The Conservative Party’s Chief Information Officer, Nick Mason, was the fourth Conservative to return to the GC’s attention after it was alleged that he too had placed a large number of election bets months before the snap poll. Was introduced through Sunak.
There was no hiding on Tuesday evening as Russell George, a Conservative member of the devolved Welsh Parliament, became the fifth party to face investigation by the GC, despite not running for a seat himself in the general election.
An unnamed police constable, who was part of the Prime Minister’s security estate, was arrested on 17 June following allegations that he had carried out a conniving bet. It has emerged that five additional law enforcement officials are also being investigated through the GC.
What are the principles for lawmakers and others betting on data use?
Section 42 of the Gambling Act of 2005 explicitly prohibits gamblers from using insider data (often referred to as insider trading) to place a larger gamble or using someone else to place a larger gamble on their behalf. Provides important data. There is a provision for a maximum jail sentence of two years.
The Parliamentary Code of Conduct additionally warns MPs against doing anything that could potentially “cause significant harm to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons”.
Appearing on a special edition of BBC Query Past on 20 June, Sunak himself noted that the scandal was “a really serious matter – it is right that they are being properly investigated by the relevant law enforcement authorities”.
Sunak said he was “incredibly angry” about the allegations. “The integrity of that process must be respected,” he said. “But what I can tell you is that if anyone is found to be breaking the rules, not only will they face the full consequences of the law, but I will also make sure they are kicked out of the Conservative Party ”
What does this brutality bode for the Conservative Birthday Party’s election campaign?
Sunak’s Conservative Party was trailing Labor badly in polls conducted even before the betting revelations. A contemporary Savanta poll for the Telegraph showed that this was likely to cause additional damage to the party, with two-thirds of voters saying they disapproved of Conservative candidates running in the election month.
Moreover, the scandal adds completely to a long list of controversies that have dogged Britain’s ruling Conservatives in recent years, and is symptomatic of a birthday party that has been “complacency” during its 14 years in power. As stated by Tim Bell, School Master of Politics at Queen Mary College, London.
“As the 19th-century statesman, Lord Acton, once wrote, ‘Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,'” Bell said, citing the Conservative Birthday Party’s list of difficulties, such as “Partygate”. , scandal over events and gatherings held at then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence in Downing Boulevard during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, which breached lockdown laws.
Bell noted: “Because the Labor Party offered no serious opposition to them for a decade, too many Conservatives, having had it too easy for too long and taking cues from the very top, became accustomed to thinking that they “Can, as the saying goes, kill and get away.”
He added: “But once Labor came to its senses and voters grew tired of the government’s failure to deliver on the basics, that era of impunity was never going to last.”
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