Tory gambling scandal: candidates Laura Saunders and Craig Williams investigated for betting on election date

Laura Saunders, the candidate for Bristol North West, is the latest Conservative to face a probe, after it emerged last week that Craig Williams, Rishi Sunak’s Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS), had “put a flutter” on when the election would take place.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said they were informed by the Gambling Commission that a police constable from the force’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command was being investigated over other alleged bets. The BBC has reported that Saunders is married to Tony Lee, the Conservative Party’s director of campaigning. Lee is reportedly taken a leave of absence from CCHQ with just two weeks to polling day.

The Gambling Commission said: “Currently the commission is investigating the possibility of offences concerning the date of the election. This is an ongoing investigation, and the commission cannot provide any further details at this time.”

Sunak told the BBC Question Time debate that he was “incredibly angry” about the allegations. He added that if “anyone has broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure they are booted out of the Conservative Party”.

Who is Laura Saunders?

Laura Saunders is the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West. She’s married to Tony Lee, the Tories’ director of campaigning, according to the BBC. She is being investigated by the Gambling Commission over a bet relating to the timing of the election.

She was the head of the international department at the Conservative Party, working with London embassies and the Tories’ sister parties overseas. Saunders had previously worked on organising campaign visits in the 2017 and 2019 elections.

Her campaign website says she lived in Bristol until she was seven, before growing up in nearby Cheltenham. She studied Russian studies at UCL, and spent a year abroad in Moscow. She joined the Conservatives aged 18 and has worked in politics since 2015. She speaks Russian, French and Czech and plays the violin and piano.

Who is Craig Williams?

Craig Williams was the Tory MP for Montgomery in Wales until the general election was called, and was standing as the candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr. He is very close to the Prime Minister as Sunak’s PPS.

He is alleged to have placed a £100 bet on a July polling day some three days before Sunak named the date as 4 July, at a Ladbrokes in his constituency. Williams previously said he had clearly made a “huge error of judgment” but refused to say whether he placed a bet on the basis of insider information. Williams was previously the MP for Cardiff North from 2015 to 2017, when he was defeated by Anna McMorrin. He was elected as MP for Montgomeryshire in 2019.

What are insider trading laws?

While there are no rules to prohibit politicians from betting on political matters, using confidential information to make financial gain is known as insider trading and is an offence under UK law. Likewise, with regards to betting, Gambling Commission rules state that inside information is anything “known by an individual ... as a result of their role in connection with an event and which is not in the public domain”.

This is primarily investigated around sports betting, however it does relate to “a non-sporting event on which bets can be placed”. This would include the date of the general election, which was being bet on all year.

What has the Tory Party said about the investigation?

Housing Secretary Michael Gove said on Thursday morning (20 June) that it would be “reprehensible” for someone to use inside information to bet on the date of the general election. Gove told the BBC: “If people have used inside information to place bets, that is deeply wrong.

“What I can’t do is sort of get too much into the detail of the case while an investigation is going on. But I can talk about the broad principle and you’re absolutely right, it’s reprehensible.”

Following the Saunders revelations, a Conservative spokesperson said: “We have been contacted by the Gambling Commission about a small number of individuals. As the Gambling Commission is an independent body, it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded.”

Commenting previously on the Craig Williams allegations, the Prime Minister said: “It is very disappointing news and you would have seen Craig Williams say that it is a huge error of judgement. There is an independent inquiry that is ongoing that in necessarily confidential as well as independent and you’ll appreciate that given that I won’t be able to comment while that’s ongoing.”

What have the opposition parties said?

A Labour frontbencher said the gambling allegations showed a “pattern of cronyism” under the Conservatives. Shadow Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook told Sky News: “I think it does chip away at trust and confidence in the government but in politics more widely, and we’ve had too much of that over the last 14 years.

“I sort of hesitate slightly but this appears with each one of these new allegations to be looking like a pattern of cronyism, if you like, with people benefiting directly potentially from information maybe passed on. I think it’s really damaging to politics generally. We’ve got to have a different way of doing politics with integrity at its heart.”

Asked how he would feel if a member of his team had placed such a bet, he said: “I think very angry. I don’t think disappointment quite covers it.”

While Liberal Democrat Deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: "Rishi Sunak must find his backbone and suspend Laura Saunders from the Conservative party whilst this investigation is ongoing. It would be an utter disgrace if Conservative politicians were shown to be more focussed on turning a quick buck rather than the needs of the country.

"The Conservative party has proven itself utterly unfit for office. Voters are sick to the back teeth of this endless carousel of chaos, sleaze and scandal. People across the country are crying out for change and that is why in many areas they are backing the Liberal Democrats to get a strong local champion that will take their issues right to the heart of Parliament and not take them for granted any longer."

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.