It risks throwing Rishi Sunak’s campaign into further turmoil after it emerged on Thursday that Laura Saunders, the Tory candidate for Bristol North West, is being looked into by the watchdog.
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.
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It is not known how much money Ms Saunders placed or when the bet was made.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, she said she will be “cooperating with the Gambling Commission” investigation.
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She also said she is considering “legal action against the BBC” claiming their initial story was “premature” and “in breach of her privacy rights”.
The full statement, released by Ms Saunders’ solicitor, said: “As the Conservative Party has already stated investigations are ongoing.
“Ms Saunders will be co-operating with the Gambling Commission and has nothing further to add.
“It is inappropriate to conduct any investigation of this kind via the media, and doing so risks jeopardising the work of the Gambling Commission and the integrity of its investigation.
“The publication of the BBC’s story is premature and is a clear infringement of Ms Saunders’ privacy rights. She is considering legal action against the BBC and any other publishers who infringe her privacy rights.”
The incident comes a week after the prime minister’s close parliamentary aide Craig Williams, the Tory candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr,was revealed to haveplaced a bet on a July election date three days before the prime minister announced it.
Image: Craig Williams admitted to betting on the election date. Pic: PA
Labour Party campaign sources told Sky News they noticed the odds on a July election narrow the day before Mr Sunak announced it on 22 May.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who is stepping down after 19 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.”
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3:42
Gove: Alleged betting ‘unacceptable’
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.”
In the hours after it was revealed Ms Saunders’ bet was being looked into, the Conservatives deleted a social media post they had put up the previous day featuring a video of a roulette wheel and the caption: “If you bet on Labour, you can never win.”
Image: The Conservatives deleted this tweet featuring a roulette table, telling voters if they ‘bet on Labour, you can never win’
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.
What is the law around gambling?
There are strict rules around gambling, with the latest laws updated in 2005.
Section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005 deals with cheating and says a person commits an offence if they cheat at gambling or do “anything for the purpose of enabling or assisting another person to cheat at gambling”.
It adds: “It is immaterial whether a person who cheats improves his changes of winning anything, or wins anything.”
Cheating is defined as an “actual or attempted deception or interference in connection with the process by which gambling is conducted, or a real or virtual game, race or other event or process to which gambling relates”.
Someone found guilty of cheating at gambling can be imprisoned for a maximum of two years and/or fined, or six months in prison for a lesser offence.
Betting with insider knowledge is also not allowed as an MP, with the MPs’ code of conduct prohibiting members from “causing significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the house”.
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 Mr Sunak’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:
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
The comedian has previously denied the accusations, and said all his sexual relationships were “absolutely always consensual”.
Met Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
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The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
Image: These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
Prince Andrew’s efforts to make money from his Pitch@Palace project have been branded as a “crude attempt to enrich himself” at the expense of “unsuspecting tech founders”, as new documents may shed more light on what he and his team have been attempting to sell.
Today is the deadline for documents to be released relating to Prince Andrew‘s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire and his interactions with the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
In February, an immigration tribunal heard how the intelligence services had contacted Mr Hampshire about Mr Yang back in 2022. Mr Yang helped set up Pitch@Palace China, a branch of the duke’s scheme to help young entrepreneurs.
Image: The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew
Image: Yang Tengbo. Pic: Pitch@Palace
Judges banned Mr Yang from the UK, saying his association with a senior royal had made Prince Andrew “vulnerable” and posed a threat to national security. Mr Yang challenged that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
Since that hearing, media organisations have applied for certain documents relating to the case and Mr Hampshire’s support for Mr Yang to be made public. SIAC agreed to release some information of public interest. It is hoped they may include more details on deals that he was trying to do on behalf of Prince Andrew.
So what do we know about potential deals for Pitch@Palace so far?
In February, Sky News confirmed that palace officials had a meeting last summer with tech funding company StartupBootcamp to discuss a potential tie-up between them and Prince Andrew relating to his Pitch@Palace project.
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The palace wasn’t involved in the fine details of a deal but wanted guarantees to make sure it wouldn’t impact the Royal Family in the future. Sky News understands from one source that the price being discussed for Pitch was around £750,000 – there are, however, reports that a deal may have stalled.
Photos we found on the Chinese Chamber of Commerce website show an event held in Asia between StartupBootcamp and Innovate Global, believed to be an offshoot of Pitch.
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2:08
Who is alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo?
Documents, released in relation to the investigations into Mr Tengbo, have also shown how much the duke has always seen Pitch as a way of potentially making money. One document from 21 August 2021 clearly states “the duke needed money at the time, and saw the relationships with China through Pitch as one possible source of funding”.
But Prince Andrew’s apparent intention to use Pitch to make money has led to concerns about whether he is unfairly using the contacts and information he gained when he was a working royal.
Norman Baker, former MP and author of books on royal finances, believes it is “a crude attempt to enrich himself” and goes against what the tech entrepreneurs thought they were signing up for.
He told Sky News: “The data given by these business people was given on the basis it was an official operation and not something for Prince Andrew, and so in my view, Prince Andrew had no right legally or morally to take the data which has been collected, a huge amount of data, and sell it…
“And quite clearly if you’re going to sell it off to StartupBootcamp, that is not what people had in mind. The entrepreneurs who joined Pitch@Palace did not do so to enrich Prince Andrew,” he said.
Rich Wilson was one tech entrepreneur who was approached at the start of Pitch@Palace to sign up, but he stepped away when he spotted a clause in the contract saying they’d be entitled to 2% equity in any funding he secured.
He feels Prince Andrew is continuing to use those he made a show of supporting.
He said: “It makes me feel sick. I think it’s terrible – that he is continuing to exploit unsuspecting tech founders in this way. A lot of them, I’m quite grey and old in the tooth now, I saw it coming, but clearly most didn’t. And a lot of them were quite young.
“It’ll be their first venture and you’re learning on the trot, so to speak. So to take advantage of people in such a major way – that’s an awful, sickening thing to do.”
We approached StartupBootcamp who said they had no comment to make, and the Duke of York’s office did not respond.
With reports that a deal may have stalled, it could be a big setback for the duke – especially with questions still about how he’ll continue to pay for his home on the Windsor estate now that the King no longer gives him financial support.