Rishi Sunak warns he will boot out Tory members guilty of betting breaches

Rishi Sunak has claimed that the Conservative Party members who are alleged to have breached gambling rules “should face the full force of the law”.

The Prime Minister and his party are under increasing scrutiny after key figures are believed to have bet on the timing of the general election before he had officially announced the date to the public.

Sunak conceded he was “incredibly angry” after learning of the accusations, which include both the party’s director of campaigns Tony Lee, who has since taken a leave of absence, and his wife Laura Saunders, the Conservative’s representative in Bristol North West.

Both of the aforementioned duo are accused of placing bets in relation to the timing of the general election, with those reports emerging just hours after one of the PM’s close protection officers was arrested and suspended over betting offences, again related to the timing of the general election. 

The Gambling Commission had informed the Metropolitan Police on 14 June before the officer was arrested on 17 June and subsequently bailed pending further enquiries.

While appearing on BBC’s Question Time’s Leaders’ Special, Sunak was pressed for comment by a member of the audience on whether the allegations surrounding the betting breaches was “the absolute epitome of the lack of ethics” displayed by his party in recent years.

Sunak replied: “I was incredibly angry – incredibly angry – to learn of these allegations.

“It’s a really serious matter. It’s right that they’re being investigated properly by the relevant law enforcement authorities, including a criminal investigation by the police.

“I want to be crystal clear that if anyone has broken the rules, they should face the full force of the law.”

The scandal has opposition up in arms, with Labour’s official X account posting: “@RishiSunak, as you won’t suspend your insider betting scandal candidates, will you campaign for them?”, before also asking whether the PM viewed those involved as “fit to be MPs”.

When faced with the demands of other parties, Sunak touched on the investigation and insisted the “integrity of that process must be respected”, however, he did make clear he would adopt a zero-tolerance policy if those involved are found guilty.

He declared: “What I can tell you is if anyone is found to have broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure that they are booted out of the Conservative Party.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have urged the Tories to suspend Saunders and Craig Williams, who generated headlines last week as the first Conservative to be embroiled in the situation, which is also the subject of an investigation from the Gambling Commission.

Williams, who is standing in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr and is Sunak’s former parliamentary private secretary, confessed he had “put a flutter on the general election” days before the Prime Minister revealed it would take place on 4 July.

Sunak is not the only high-profile Conservative figure to address the controversy, with housing secretary Michael Gove dubbing the debacle as “deeply wrong”.

“If people have used inside information to place bets, that is deeply wrong,” Gove told broadcasters.

“What I can’t do is sort of get too much into the detail of the case while an investigation is going on. But I can talk about the broad principle and you’re absolutely right, it’s reprehensible.

“Obviously, it doesn’t look great. And, obviously, the conclusions lots of people are drawing are not at all great.

“But I don’t know all the facts at the moment. I’d be loath to condemn without there being an investigation that’s been concluded,” he added.

As of 20 June, BBC tracking data showed Labour boast a convincing lead in the polls with 41%, with the Tories behind on 21%, followed by Reform UK on 16% and the Lib Dems on 11%.