Fourth Tory under investigation for alleged election-time gambling

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A fourth Tory employee is being investigated by the Gambling Commission for betting on the timing of the general election in July, a party insider said.

Nick Mason, the Conservatives’ chief data protection officer, has taken a leave of absence as the regulator investigates his possible misuse of confidential information to bet on the election result, people close to the party said.

The betting scandal has rocked Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party, which is struggling to revive its flagging campaign less than two weeks before the general election.

Sunak is facing heavy criticism for his handling of the affair, with more and more voices calling for him to suspend party members who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission.

Two of the three people investigated – Craig Williams, Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide, and Laura Saunders, a party staffer and the wife of Tory campaign manager Tony Lee – are still running as Conservative candidates in the election.

Sunak said last week he was “incredibly angry” when he learned of the allegations.

“It is a really serious matter. It is right that they are properly investigated by the relevant law enforcement authorities, including a criminal investigation by the police,” he told the audience when asked about the matter.

Michael Gove said the scandal had “sucked the oxygen out of the election campaign” and “a few individuals had ultimately created an incredibly damaging atmosphere for the party”.

“It seems as if there is one rule for them and one rule for us,” he told the Sunday Times. “The perception that we are operating outside the rules that we set for others. That was damaging at the time of the Partygate scandal and it is damaging here.”

The investigation into Mason, first reported by the Sunday Times, is the latest in a series of mishaps that have rocked the Conservative election campaign since Sunak called off the election in the rain on May 22.

Particularly damaging was the Prime Minister’s decision to leave the D-Day anniversary celebrations in France early to attend a televised interview, for which he was forced to sincerely apologise.

When asked about the Gambling Commission’s investigation into Mason, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “On the instructions of the Gambling Commission, we are not permitted to discuss any matter relating to an investigation with the individual concerned or any other person.”