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The Conservative head of campaigning has stepped back from his role after his wife was embroiled in a widening election-betting scandal.
Tony Lee “took a leave of absence” on Wednesday, the party said. His wife, Laura Saunders, is under investigation by the Gambling Commission for allegedly betting on the timing of the UK general election.
Saunders is a Conservative staffer standing for election in Bristol North West. The gambling regulator also launched a probe into Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide last week and a police officer from the premier’s protection detail was arrested this week.
“The director of campaigning took a leave of absence from CCHQ [Conservative Campaign Headquarters] yesterday,” the Conservative party said on Thursday.
The scandal threatens to further damage the Tory party’s already struggling re-election effort. Several polls have predicted a catastrophic defeat for Sunak and his party at the July 4 poll.
The Tory campaign has already been damaged by blunders by Sunak, including returning early from D-Day commemorations.
Saunders and Lee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“If people have used inside information to place bets, that is deeply wrong,” Michael Gove, housing secretary, told the BBC. He added that he could not “get too much into the detail while an investigation is going on” but said that in principle such activity was “reprehensible”.
Saunders has worked for the party since 2015, most recently helping to liaise with centre-right parties in other countries.
Lee previously described himself online as a political campaigner “with over 20 years experience in running elections” and said he had led the successful campaign to re-elect former West Midlands mayor Andy Street in 2021. Lee’s LinkedIn page was not active on Thursday.
He was appointed director of campaigning by deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who highlighted Lee’s work as the “mastermind” behind Street’s campaign at the party’s Spring Forum in March 2022.
The Gambling Commission said it was “investigating the possibility of offences concerning the date of the election”. It added: “This is an ongoing investigation, and the Commission cannot provide any further details at this time.”
The Conservative party 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.”
Craig Williams, who as parliamentary private secretary to Sunak was one of his most trusted aides, is also under investigation after he placed a £100 bet on a July election just days before his boss announced the date of the vote.
Sunak said he was “very disappointed” in Williams, who has admitted a “huge error of judgment” after he “placed a flutter” on the election date.
Williams has declined to say whether he placed the bet on the basis of any inside information and Sunak refused to confirm if Williams had known about the date of the poll, insisting it was not appropriate to comment while an independent investigation was under way.
Responding to the growing scandal, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was “telling” that Sunak had not suspended those allegedly involved from running as Conservative candidates in the election.
“If it was one of my candidates they would be gone and their feet would not have touched the floor,” he said on a visit to York. “Politics needs to be about service, about public service.”
On Monday, London’s Metropolitan Police also arrested an officer in Sunak’s personal security detail over “alleged bets” placed on the timing of the election.
The Met confirmed that a member of its Royalty and Specialist Protection command had been held over “alleged bets”, without identifying whom he guarded. A person familiar with the situation confirmed he had been part of Sunak’s protection detail.
Additional reporting by Anna Gross