Rishi Sunak has withdrawn the Conservative Party’s support for the Tory candidates tied up in the general election betting scandal.
Two weeks after the scandal first emerged, the Conservatives have dropped Craig Williams and Laura Saunders, both of whom linked to the prime minister’s inner circle and were under investigation by the Gambling Commission.
The commission is looking into allegations of bets placed on the date of the general election, ahead of the announcement by Rishi Sunak that it would take place on 4 July.
Mr Williams, the candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, and Mr Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary, appeared to admit betting on the election date just days before Mr Sunak announced it, saying he made a “huge error of judgement”.
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Ms Saunders is running in Bristol North West and has worked for the party since 2015. She is married to Tony Lee, the Conservative Party’s director of campaigns, who is also being probed by the gambling watchdog.
Because nominations have closed, Mr Williams – who is standing in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr – and Ms Saunders will both still be on the ballot paper.
But a Conservative Party spokesman said: “As a result of ongoing internal enquiries, we have concluded that we can no longer support Craig Williams or Laura Saunders as Parliamentary Candidates at the forthcoming General Election.
“We have checked with the Gambling Commission that this decision does not compromise the investigation that they are conducting, which is rightly independent and ongoing.”
The prime minister had faced weeks of pressure to suspend those involved in the betting scandal, with Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker on Monday becoming the latest senior Tory to call for action to be taken.
The Northern Ireland minister told ITV: “I would call them up and ask them, ‘Did you do it?’ And if they did it, then they are suspended.
“But the Prime Minister would have to answer why he hasn’t done it, I haven’t got inside information on why the prime minister hasn’t done it.”
He joined senior Tories including Tobias Ellwood in calling for the suspension of the four Tories alleged to have placed bets on the election date.
Others tied to the Gambling Commission probe include the party’s chief data officer Nick Mason, who has taken a leave of absense from Tory HQ. A close protection officer for the prime minister was also suspended by the Metropolitan Police and is being investigated.
Responding to the suspensions, Sir Keir Starmer told reporters: “Why didn’t that happen a week ago?”
And shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said: “It is yet another example of Rishi Sunak’s staggeringly weak leadership that it has taken him nearly two weeks to see what was obvious to everyone else.
“The Conservatives who sought to line their own pockets by betting on the election date are not fit to be candidates for parliament.”
And Mr Ashworth called on the prime minister to “come clean” about how many Conservative figures are implicated in the scandal and who they are.
He added: “Just as with Partygate and the PPE scandal, the Conservatives believe it is one rule for them, another for everyone else.”
The Gambling Commission has compiled a list of everyone who put a bet on a July general election after 1 May and is now “combing through the data and picking off people from that”, an industry source told The Independent.
Mr Williams placed a £100 bet with 5-1 odds, meaning he would have won £500, but he would not have received the payout until after the contest. His suspension is a major blow for the party in Wales, as the Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr seat he was contesting is the only Welsh seat projected as a Tory win in a major seat-level YouGov poll last week.
