Labour suspends candidate for betting on election defeat

Labour has suspended one of its election candidates after the Gambling Commission launched an investigation into him for betting that he would lose the seat he was running for.

Kevin Craig is standing for Labour in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, but the party will no longer support him.

The Tory party was previously embroiled in a betting scandal surrounding the election date. The Gambling Commission investigated five people with links to the Prime Minister for allegedly placing bets on the election date.

Two of them are Conservative election candidates, and as pressure mounted on the Prime Minister to take action, the party announced on Tuesday that it was withdrawing its support for them.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said the party acted immediately after being contacted by the commission and administratively suspended Mr Craig pending the outcome of the investigation.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: “With Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour Party maintains the highest standards for our parliamentary candidates, as the public rightly expects from any party seeking a seat in Parliament. That is why we acted immediately in this case.”

Mr. Craig is CEO of a political communications and crisis management company.

He is running for a seat that recently saw a defection from the Tories to Labour. Dan Poulter defected to Labour in April but is not seeking re-election.

The Tory candidates who were withdrawn from the party’s support on Tuesday are Craig Williams – the Prime Minister’s parliamentary adviser – and Laura Saunders, who is running in Bristol North West. She will no longer have the party’s support.

With nominations closed, Mr Williams – who is standing in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr – and Ms Saunders will both still be on the ballot paper as Conservative candidates.

The withdrawal of support means that the party will not campaign for them and will therefore de facto not field candidates for these seats.

In addition to Mr Williams and Ms Saunders, two people from Sunak’s close team are also being investigated – Ms Saunders’ husband and campaign manager Tony Lee, chief data officer Nick Mason and one of the Prime Minister’s bodyguards, whose identity is still unknown.

On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police announced that it had received information from the Gambling Commission about five more officials who allegedly placed bets on the election date.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “It remains the case that only one officer is facing criminal proceedings.

“However, we have received information from the Gambling Commission that five other officials have placed bets related to the election timing.

“The Gambling Commission continues to investigate these matters. The officers have not been arrested but the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed.”

Police also released further details about the roles of each officer – none of the other five officers served in a bodyguard position.

“The officers are stationed at the Royalty and Specialist Command, the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and the Central West Basic Command Unit.

“Decisions on whether they will be subject to any restrictions will be taken in due course.”

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