Many more people than the leading Tories already identified are being investigated by the gambling regulator in relation to bets on the date of the general election, Sky News understands.
And in a major new development, the watchdog has widened its inquiries to investigate whether people with inside knowledge may have asked a third party to place a bet for them.
Sky News also understands that investigators have written to leading bookmakers asking for details of bets of £20 or more on the election date within days of Rishi Sunak announcing it on 22 May.
The body carrying out the investigation, the Gambling Commission, already takes a close interest in political betting and carries out extra checks on bets by people connected with politics, Sky News has been told.
The gambling industry also regards politicians and those who work closely with them as PEPs – politically exposed persons – who are people “entrusted with a prominent public function”.
That’s because these people generally “present a higher risk for potential involvement in bribery and corruption by virtue of their position and influence”, according to the Law Society.
Image: Nick Mason, the Conservative’s chief data officer, is being investigated by the Electoral Commission
Image: Laura Saunders is the party’s candidate in Bristol North West.
Pic: Laura Saunders for Bristol North West
It emerged on Saturday evening Nick Mason, the Tory party’s chief data officer, was the fourth Conservative candidate or official being investigated. He has taken a leave of absence and denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary Craig Williams, the Tory candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, admitted last week to placing a “flutter” on the date of the election.
Advertisement
Earlier this week, Tony Lee, the party’s director of campaigns, and his wife Laura Saunders, the Tory candidate for Bristol North West, were also placed under investigation.
Image: Craig Williams admitted to betting on the election date. Pic: PA
Home Secretary James Cleverly told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips he had been told “very, very clearly” to not discuss the investigation.
He added: “I’m not in any way going to defend people who placed bets on that.”
Asked whether there was a wider betting circle, Mr Cleverly said: “That’s not my understanding. My understanding is it’s a small number of individuals.”
He also said he has “no reason to believe” any ministers are involved in betting on the timing of the election.
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”.
A Gambling Commission spokesman said: “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.”
A Conservative spokesman told Sky News: “As instructed by the Gambling Commission, we are not permitted to discuss any matters related to any investigation with the subject or any other persons.”
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:
It’s quite simply a political earthquake. Across England, Reform proved it can translate positive polling into real power, picking up another parliamentary seat, a mayoralty, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire councils and dozens of seats by lunchtime. The popularity surge for this anti-establishment party is real.
Look at the votes: Reform doubling its vote share in Runcorn against the general election to 38%, clocking up 42% of the vote in the Lincolnshire mayoral race and 32% in the Doncaster mayoral race, running Labour very close. By lunchtime, Reform had taken the long-held Staffordshire council from the Tories, wiping out their five-strong majority.
The significance of these wins, added in with the big gains for the Lib Dems and Greens, cannot be overstated. It speaks in a serious way to a new era of politics in the UK, in which the decades-long duopoly of Labour versus Conservative is crumbling with the rise of the other parties.
The trend was evident in the 2024 general election, when the two main parties got their lowest ever vote share. Labour’s clever targeting of seats ensured that it won a massive majority on just 34% of the popular vote. The Lib Dems won a record 70 seats, while Reform picked up five MPs and came second in 98 constituencies.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
4:47
Farage: ‘This is Reform-quake’
If that was a loveless landslide, this is the break-up, as voters, who backed Labour’s change message, seem to be pressing the change button again and turning out for a leader who is tapping into voters’ disillusionment with his slogan that “Britain is broken and needs Reform”.
For the government to lose a by-election just 10 months after winning a massive landslide is a terrible moment for Labour. It won this seat with 53% of the vote in July, against Reform polling at 18%. To end up losing it – albeit by just six votes – is a dreadful verdict from voters here on their early performance.
Those around the PM admit it is deeply frustrating but say they expected a kicking from an angry electorate impatient for change. They are taking crumbs of comfort in, just about, holding the mayoralties of Doncaster, North Tyneside and West of England.
But in early council results, the drop in the Labour vote is big, and that raises questions as to whether Starmer’s party will struggle to hold constituencies it gained in the July election, such as Hexham in Northumberland.
The approach from No 10 is to “keep calm and carry on” with its government agenda – the immigration white paper, defence review, infrastructure strategy – to deliver for the public and win back the support they had in the last general election in time for the next.
Image: Nigel Farage holds up six fingers to indicate the six votes his party’s candidate won by in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Pic: Reuters
For the Conservatives, it’s been – to quote one political rival – a “story of Tory councillors getting machine gunned”. In Staffordshire, where Farage did his final rally, Reform have taken a council where the Tories had a 50-strong majority.
The party has been absolutely hammered by Reform in the Tory heartlands of Lincolnshire, where Dame Andrea Jenkyns won the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty by 40,000 votes. In the general election, the Conservatives held six of the eight parliamentary seats in this county, on Friday Jenkyns beat the Tories in eight out of the nine areas.
Those around Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch are trying to steady nerves, arguing that these results are disappointing but not surprising in the context of the party’s worst-ever election defeat in 2024, with the party “under new leadership” and “still in the early stages of a long-term plan to renew”.
Others are panicked and angry. “This is what political extinction looks like,” one senior Tory source told me, in a sign that questions over Badenoch’s leadership are only going to build.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
10:43
How significant are Reform’s wins?
There are many results still to come in, but what these elections are pointing to is the rise of multi-party politics with voting spread across three or four parties in many of the races and the two main parties rapidly losing ground.
It ties into the longer run trends in our voting, leaning towards more parties and less tribalism amongst voters, as the electorate shift loyalties, and frustration with Labour and the Tories fuels support for the alternatives.
Reform’s success in Runcorn and Durham, as well as Staffordshire and Lincolnshire, shows that Farage poses a significant threat to the two main parties. Add in the Lib Dems, challenging the Tories in their blue wall shires on the centre right, and what we see emerging is a party system where the two governing parties are no longer dominant.
These elections then, while relatively small, are profoundly consequential for our political system. Where we go next is hugely unclear. Much will rest on whether Labour can deliver on its promises and dull Farage’s drumbeat of change.
Image: Reform promised to fix ‘broken’ councils. Pic: PA
Reform’s challenge will be to prove that it can govern and sustain the additional scrutiny that being in office entails.
The Conservatives are in the most desperate place of all, squeezed by Reform on the right flank and the Lib Dems on the left. But what is clearer after today is that the political earthquake Farage has long promised is now shaking our political system in a perhaps epochal way.
The Reform leader has long been saying he is this country’s next prime minister. Looking at the way he and his party have translated poll leads into real power means that prospect is no longer a pipe dream.
One of two men on trial for cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree told a court his co-defendant had wanted to cut down the “most famous tree in the world”.
Daniel Graham, 39, said Adam Carruthers, 32, rang him the morning after to claim responsibility for felling the tree beside Hadrian’s Wall.
He said Carruthers had asked him to take the blame “because he had mental health issues”, believing he would be treated more leniently.
The prosecution allege that Graham and Carruthers drove from Carlisle to the Northumberland landmark in September 2023 during Storm Agnes.
Both men deny two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to the Roman Wall.
Image: Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers. Pic: CPS/PA
On the fourth day of the trial, Graham was asked about a call Carruthers made to him on the morning of 28 September 2023.
“It was Adam claiming he had cut down the Sycamore Gap tree, claiming that it was him that cut it down,” he said.
More on Northumberland
Related Topics:
“I told him he was talking shite, I didn’t believe it.”
While Graham said his former friend had spoken of wanting to cut down the tree in the past, he “didn’t take it seriously”.
“At the time I didn’t know of the tree … He told me it was the most famous tree in the world.”
He told Newcastle Crown Court that he remembered Carruthers ordering a chainsaw and saying it was big enough to cover the Sycamore Gap’s circumference.
Image: Adam Carruthers. Pic: CPS/PA
Defence barrister Chris Knox said two people had been involved on the night in question, one feling the tree and the other filming.
But while Graham said that Carruthers felled the tree, he “[didn’t] know 100% who the other person was”.
Speaking from the witness box, Graham said he was not the one using his Range Rover or mobile phone on the night the tree was cut down, which were both traced to the tree’s location.
At the time, the pair were the “best of pals”, according to Graham.
When questioned by Mr Knox on whether Carruthers had asked to borrow his Range Rover, he added: “Adam wouldn’t need to ask to borrow anything of mine. He was welcome to it.”
Jurors have been told that an anonymous call was made to the emergency services on 23 August last year, by a man believed to be Graham, in which Carruthers was named as being responsible for felling the Sycamore Gap.
Russell Brand has been granted bail after appearing in court charged with sexual offences including rape.
During the brief hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the 49-year-old spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, and address, also confirming to the judge that he understood his bail conditions.
Image: Russell Brand outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Pic: Reuters
Brand, who has been living in the US, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape – as well as two counts of sexual assault – in connection with incidents involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.
The allegations were first made in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023.
Image: The comedian and actor did not say anything as he entered the court
The comedian, actor and author has denied the accusations and said he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.
Appearing before Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring, Brand stood to confirm his name and address. He then sat down while the charges were read to the court.
Image: Brand surrounded by media. Pic: Reuters
Brand is charged with the rape of a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area. She alleges that after meeting Brand at a theatrical performance and chatting to him later in her hotel room, she returned from the toilet to find he’d removed some of his clothes. She claims he asked her to take photos of him, and then raped her.
The court also heard of another of Brand’s alleged victims, who has accused him of indecently assaulting her in 2001 by “grabbing her arm and dragging her towards a male toilet” at a TV station.
Brand is accused of the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman he met in 2004 in London. He is accused of grabbing her breasts before allegedly pulling her into a toilet.
The final complainant is a radio worker who has accused Brand of sexually assaulting her between 2004 and 2005 by “kissing” and “grabbing” her breasts and buttocks.
Image: Brand leaves court. Pic: Reuters
The judge referred the case up to the Central Criminal Court – informally known as the Old Bailey.
Brand was asked to supply both his US and UK addresses to the court.
When asked if he understood his bail conditions, he replied, “Yes”.
The case was adjourned and Brand, of Hambleden, Buckinghamshire, was told he must appear at the Old Bailey on 30 May.