A Conservative Senedd Member has ‘stepped back’ from his role as he is investigated for gambling on the date of the election.
Welsh cabinet member Russell George is being investigated by the Gambling Commission ‘regarding bets on the timing of the General Election’.
He has since stepped back from his role while the investigation is carried out, the Leader of the Welsh Conservatives said.
Mr George becomes the fifth Conservative politician to be drawn into the ongoing betting scandal which has overshadowed Rishi Sunak‘s election campaign for the past few weeks.
It came after the Prime Minister today suspended two Tory candidates who are also alleged to have placed bets on the election date.
Mr George told the Guardian he would ‘co-operate fully’ with the investigation, adding that he had stepped back from the shadow cabinet ‘as I do not wish to be an unnecessary distraction to their work’.
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Andrew RT Davies MS, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said: ‘Russell George has informed me that he has received a letter from the Gambling Commission regarding bets on the timing of the General Election.
‘Russell George has stepped back from the Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet while these investigations are ongoing.
‘All other Members of the Welsh Conservative Group have confirmed that they have not placed any bets.
‘I will not issue further comment on this ongoing process, recognising the Gambling Commission’s instruction for confidentiality to protect the integrity of the process.’
It comes after Mr Sunak today suspended two candidates over the alleged betting scandal. Craig Williams and Laura Saunders will no longer be ‘supported’ by the party ‘as a result of ongoing internal enquiries’ by the Conservative Party.
Mr Williams this afternoon admitted he had ‘committed an error of judgment, not an offence’ and vowed to clear his name and win election in his Welsh seat.
Amid a deepening scandal five more police officers are also being investigated by the GC over betting behaviour around the date of the election before it was announced, Scotland Yard revealed this afternoon.
One of Mr Sunak’s close protection officers has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, but the latest individuals are not part of the same team.
In a video statement Mr Williams, the candidate in Montgomeryshire and and Glyndwr, said: ‘I am committed to my campaign to be elected as your Member of Parliament and your staunch champion.’
Scotland Yard said the five officers newly implicated in the scandal were from the Royalty and Specialist Command, the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command and the Central West Basic Command Unit. None of them work in a close protection role as a political bodyguard.
Labour also became embroiled in the growing political betting scandal today as the party revealed it had suspended an election candidate who bet on himself to lose.
Kevin Craig, who is standing in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, is being investigated by the Gambling Commission over a bet he said he placed weeks ago when he did not think he’d win.
The seat had a 23,000 Tory majority in 2019 but recent polls put him neck-and-neck with Conservative candidate Patrick Spencer.
In a statement this afternoon Mr Craig, who is also a major Labour donor, said: ‘While I did not place this bet with any prior knowledge of the outcome, this was a huge mistake, for which I apologise unreservedly.
‘I have so much respect for how Keir Starmer has changed the Labour Party and I have been fighting so hard to win this seat and change the country alongside him.
‘However, it is right that the party upholds the highest standards for its Parliamentary candidates – just as the public expects the highest standards from any party hoping to serve in government. I deeply regret what I have done and will take the consequences of this stupid error of judgement on the chin.’
A party spokeswoman said after being contacted by the Gambling Commission the party acted immediately to administratively suspend him pending investigation.
She added: ‘With Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour party upholds the highest standards for our parliamentary candidates, as the public rightly expects from any party hoping to serve, which is why we have acted immediately in this case.’