Tory candidate married to party campaign boss probed over bet on election date

A Tory candidate who is married to the party’s campaign director is being probed by the Gambling Commission over an alleged bet relating to the timing of the General Election.

Laura Saunders, who is running to be the Conservative MP for Bristol North West, is the second Tory candidate to be looked into by the gambling regulator. It is not known when the alleged bet was placed or for how much money. Under the Gambling Act, cheats can be jailed for up to two years.

Ms Saunders will be cooperating with the probe and has nothing to add, according to her solicitors. The candidate, who has worked in various roles for the party since 2015, is married to Tony Lee, the Conservative Party’s Director of Campaigns.

It has since emerged that Mr Lee took a leave of absence from Party HQ on Wednesday, leaving the Tories without a campaign director two weeks before polling day.

It comes after Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary aide Craig Williams admitted he was being looked at by the Gambling Commission after he put a £100 bet on a General Election being held in July. In a statement last week, he conceded he had “put a flutter” on the date and should have “thought through how it looks”. He apologised and said he had made a “huge error of judgement” over the alleged bet.

Separately a police officer in Mr Sunak’s close protection team has been arrested over an alleged bet on the timing of the General Election. The male officer was suspended from his role before being arrested by police “on suspicion of misconduct in public office” on Monday. He was taken into custody and bailed pending further enquiries.

Labour’s campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden called on Mr Sunak to withdraw support from the two Conservative candidates. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr McFadden said “Surely you can understand that – yet again – this looks as though there is one rule for members of the Tory Party, and another rule for everyone else, specifically on this occasion a serving police officer. If you can see how wrong that is, will you now at the very least remove your support for Mr Williams and Ms Saunders as Conservative election candidates?”

The Lib Dems have also called for both Ms Saunders and Mr Williams to be suspended.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove said reports people were being investigated over General Election bets was “deeply disappointing and upsetting”. He said: “I don’t know all the details but obviously it is not something anyone should be doing, should’ve done. It’s wrong but there’s a process now. One of the things I learned when I was Justice Minister – obviously it’s a matter of public interest – but a politician shouldn’t provide a running commentary on an investigation.”

Ms Saunders is understood to have most recently worked in the party’s International Division – a department of the Tory campaign headquarters which communicates with other centre right parties worldwide. Between 2015 and 2019 she reportedly worked in the operations and tours department organising campaign visits by successive Prime Ministers and Chancellors.

Asked about Ms Saunders’s case, a Conservative spokesman 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.” It added on Mr Lee: “The Director of Campaigning took a leave of absence from CCHQ yesterday.”

A statement released by Ms Saunders’s solicitors 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.”

The statement said it was “inappropriate to conduct any investigation of this kind via the media” said she was considering legal action for infringement of privacy rights.

A spokesman from 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.”

In relation to Mr William’s case, a spokesman for the Gambling Commission said: “If someone uses confidential information in order to gain an unfair advantage when betting, this may constitute an offence of cheating under section 42 of the Gambling Act, which is a criminal offence.”

In a statement related to the police officer’s case, a Met spokesman told the Mirror: “The matter was immediately referred to officers in the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, who opened an investigation, and the officer was also removed from operational duties.”