Laura Saunders: Second Conservative candidate facing betting probe is married to party’s head of campaigns

Published

3 months ago

June 20, 2024

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A second Conservative candidate facing an investigation over allegedly betting on the timing of the general election is married to the party’s director of campaigns.

Laura Saunders, the Tory candidate for Bristol North West, is being looked into by the Gambling Commission.

She has worked for the party since 2015 and is married to the Conservative Party’s director of campaigns, Tony Lee.

Mr Lee “took a leave of absence” from his role on Wednesday night, a Conservative Party spokesman told Sky News.

It is not known how much money Ms Saunders placed or when the bet was placed.

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Rishi Sunak’s close parliamentary aide Craig Williams, the Tory candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, placed a bet on a July election date three days before the prime minister announced it.

And the prime minister’s close protection officer has been arrested and suspended over alleged bets about the timing of the election.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who is stepping down after 20 years as an MP, told Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley: “It’s deeply disappointing and upsetting.

“But I have to say it’s the exception rather than the rule.”

He later said the whole episode is “deeply regrettable”, and added: “I can tell you how the world will think it looks, which is not great.”

A Conservative spokesman told Sky News: “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.”

A Gambling Commission spokesman told Sky News: “The Gambling Commission regulates gambling in the interests of consumers and the wider public.

“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.

“We are not confirming or denying the identity of any individuals involved in this investigation.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for Ms Saunders to be suspended and said it is “very telling” Mr Sunak has not already done so.

“If it was one of my candidates, they’d be gone and their feet would not have touched the floor,” he added.

The officer who has been arrested is a member of the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) Command, which provides personal close protection to ministerial VIPs and members of the Royal Family.

Sky News understands several bets were placed by the officer, with at least one of them being a three-figure sum.

The Met Police said the matter was immediately referred on 14 June to officers in the force’s directorate of professional standards, who opened an investigation. The officer was also removed from operational duties.

In a statement, the Met said: “The officer was subsequently arrested on Monday 17 June on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was taken into custody and bailed pending further enquiries.”

Mr Sunak said he was “disappointed” about Mr Williams after it emerged last week that he had bet on a July election.

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Mr Williams, who was the PM’s parliamentary private secretary (PPS), is facing an investigation after he “put a flutter on the general election” three days before the 4 July date was announced.

The odds at the time were 5/1 and he placed £100 on, which would have led to a £500 payout.

In a statement, he said his “flutter” on the election had prompted some “routine inquiries” and that he would “fully co-operate with these”.

“I don’t want it to be a distraction from the campaign. I should have thought through how it looks,” he added.

Sky News has contacted Ms Saunders for a comment but she has not replied.

The other candidates for Bristol North West are:

Caroline Gooch, Lib Dems

Darren Jones, Labour

Scarlett O’Connor, Reform UK

Mary Page, Green Party

Ben Smith, SDP

The other candidates for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr are:

Jeremy Brignell-Thorp, Green Party

Oliver Lewis, Reform Uk

Glyn Preston, Lib Dems

Elwyn Vaughan, Plaid Cymru

Steve Witherden, Labour

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

7 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.