RISHI Sunak faces a grilling from Sun readers today after his latest bets scandal blow — amid fears “many more” Tory insiders had a punt on the date of his snap election.
Attempting to shake off the embarrassment going into the last full week of campaigning, the PM and Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer will face a tough interrogation on our Never Mind the Ballots: Election Showdown, starting at 5.30pm BST today.
It comes as the Conservatives’ hopes of the betting scandal dying down were shattered yesterday.
The party’s chief data officer Nick Mason became the fourth Tory investigated by the Gambling Commission for allegedly putting a flutter on the timing of the General Election.
It is also understood the watchdog has widened its inquiries to investigate whether party insiders used third parties to place bets.
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Sources claim the Gambling Commission has identified more persons of interest — on top of officials Tony Lee and Mason, who have taken leave, and candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders.
The latter pair are still on the election campaign trail as official Tory parliamentary hopefuls.
Home Secretary James Cleverly yesterday said his understanding is that a “small number” of people are involved and that he has “no reason to believe” any Cabinet ministers are implicated in the issue.
He defended Mr Sunak for not sacking anyone who admitted placing a bet, arguing it is a matter for the Commission.
He said: “The appropriate thing to do is for the appropriate investigating authority to conduct that investigation.”
Mr Cleverly also reiterated the watchdog told them “very, very clearly” not to discuss the matter.
But Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC there was “genuine disgust” among voters over the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems called on Mr Sunak to intervene personally, by ordering a Cabinet Office inquiry into the reports.
A spokesman for the Gambling Commission said: “This is an ongoing investigation and we cannot provide any further details at this time.”
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The PM is set to go first in today’s Sun debate, facing questions from our Political Editor Harry Cole and from our readers.
Labour chief Sir Keir will follow as both fight for hundreds of thousands of undecided voters.
The back-to-back interviews will be among the final chances for both sides to set out their stalls and defend their manifesto pledges ahead of July 4.
Sir Keir is also in for a tough grilling after author JK Rowling accused him of abandoning women.
As he sought to defend Labour’s track record on women’s rights, she doubled down on X, and said: “Labour giving the same energy as a man who’s been shagging a woman from work but thinks his wife should be cool about it because he’s always put the bins out.”
The row stems from a damning column for The Times she wrote on Saturday, in which she declared she had a “poor opinion” of Sir Keir.
Labour has vowed to make it easier for anyone to legally change their gender identity, sparking fears that safe spaces for women could soon be easily infringed on by biological males.
Harry Potter author JK said she would struggle to vote Labour as long as the party “remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain the rights”.
In response, Sir Keir said: “I do respect her. But I would point out the long record that Labour has, in government, of passing really important legislation which has advanced the rights of women and made a material difference.”
The party’s position on tax could also come under scrutiny.
It has ruled out increasing income tax, National Insurance and VAT.
However, a leaked report last week by the left-leaning Guardian said Labour is looking at extra wealth taxes to raise £10billion.
