Leading Tories turn against Rishi Sunak for failing to get a handle on election betting scandal

Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure to intervene in the Conservatives’ general election betting scandal, with senior figures urging him to act.

The Prime Minister was asked to immediately suspend all those involved in the party and to launch a Cabinet investigation into the scandal.

Party leader Richard Holden, who is responsible for overseeing the Conservative election campaign, has so far been cautious in his comments on the crisis.

Click here for our live coverage of the federal election campaign

Among the growing calls for the people involved to be suspended are a former Tory minister and the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, wrote to the Gambling Commission calling on the regulator to release the names of all those under investigation.

With the crisis worsening, the Conservatives’ election campaign threatened to be jeopardised for another week:

• Sources close to Oliver Dowden confirmed that the Deputy Prime Minister had not placed a bet on the election, increasing pressure on other senior figures to rule themselves out.

• James Cleverly did not deny that a Cabinet minister was involved in the incident, saying only: “Not to my knowledge.”

• Michael Gove compared the situation to Partygate, saying voters saw it as “one rule for them and another for us”.

• Labour’s Bridget Phillipson said there was “real disgust” among voters at the allegations

• The number of Tories investigated by the regulator rose to four – two candidates and two officials

• Anger grew that the police officer who was also accused was suspended while Tory politicians remained in office

Amid the growing fallout, former justice minister Sir Robert Buckland told LBC he was dismayed by the scandal. “Whatever the motivation of these people is… is this really what we expect? I don’t think so,” he said.

When asked if he thought the Prime Minister should suspend those involved, he said: “I think so.”

And former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng told GB News: “This is childish and incredibly stupid. How could they think they wouldn’t get caught?” He pointed the finger at Mr Sunak, saying he was in charge and therefore bore “ultimate responsibility”.

He continued: “Sometimes it may be unfair, maybe he didn’t know what was going on, but as the leader of an organization, your character, your job is to impose a certain discipline on the institution, and when things go wrong – I know that’s an old-fashioned view and people don’t really share it anymore, but at the end of the day, I believe the leader bears responsibility for what’s going on.”

After a day of silence from the Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said The Independent: “Rishi Sunak must personally intervene to order a Cabinet Office investigation and suspend all individuals under investigation by the Gambling Commission.

“People are fed up with this dirty work. Day after day, hour after hour, the Conservative government is getting deeper and deeper into this dirty work.”

In his scathing letter to the Gambling Commission, McFadden said: “With postal ballots already sent out, many millions of people will be casting their votes this week. They have a right to have all the relevant facts about this scandal available to them when they do so.

“I believe it is in the public interest that the Gambling Commission publishes the names of other people it is investigating in this matter. It will be particularly interesting to see whether any ministers placed bets on the election date prior to the election.”

The Independent has revealed that an unnamed Cabinet minister is among several people being investigated. Numerous senior Tories have exempted themselves, including Grant Shapps, Penny Mordaunt, James Cleverly, Mark Harper and Mr Gove.

Over the weekend, Nick Mason, the Conservative Party’s data protection commissioner, was also scrutinised by the Gambling Commission.

He is the fourth person close to the party leadership who is currently being investigated by the gambling regulator. He is accused of having bet on the election date before it was even announced.

The latest allegations were published by The Sunday Timeswhich claimed that Mr Mason had placed dozens of bets with potential winnings worth thousands of pounds.

Mr Gove said: “The perception that we are operating outside the rules we set for others – that was damaging at the time of Partygate and is damaging here.”

“If you are in a privileged position, (close to) the prime minister, at the centre of a political operation, and you use inside information to make extra money for yourself, that is simply not acceptable. So if these allegations are true, it is very difficult to defend yourself.”

Home Secretary Cleverly said he would not defend any Tory who had placed bets, but the investigation into the matter was in the hands of the Gambling Commission.

He said: “To my knowledge it is a small number of people,” adding: “There is an investigation by the Gambling Commission and we have been told very, very clearly that we are not allowed to talk about the investigation.”

Several reports suggested that the commission was investigating “many more” people and had expanded its investigation to include possible bets by family members and friends of people with links to the party.

An industry source said The Independent that the Gambling Commission had asked for details of all bets placed after May 1 on July elections and that it was now “combing through the data and picking out individuals”.

The revelations are a further blow to Rishi Sunak’s hopes of getting the Conservative election campaign back on track after three other Conservative figures were already implicated in the scandal.

Craig Williams, Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary who is standing in Montgomeryshire, was the first Tory candidate to be publicly linked to the betting scandal.

Laura Saunders, who has worked for the Tories since 2015 and is standing as a candidate in Bristol North West, and her husband Tony Lee, the campaign director, are under investigation.

Shadow Education Secretary Ms Phillipson spoke of a “real disgust” among voters at the general election betting.

She told the BBC Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “People across the country will be placing bets, but I think there is a genuine disgust among so many voters that what we are seeing here is pretty shocking behavior.

“Rishi Sunak promised us his government would be different. He has taken no action against the candidates in question, he should suspend them and – as Michael Gove has said – this only reminds people of the worst excesses of the Conservatives over the last 14 years.”