Rishi blasts election betting rule-breakers as Sun election showdown kicks off

24 June 2024 , 17:11
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Watch our explosive Never Mind the Ballots: Election Showdown on YouTube
Watch our explosive Never Mind the Ballots: Election Showdown on YouTube

RISHI Sunak tonight said he's "incredibly angry" about the Tory election betting scandal.

Speaking to The Sun's Political Editor Harry Cole on our election showdown, the Prime Minister insisted anyone involved must "face the full consequences".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has tonight doubled down on the betting scandal qhiqquiqqkideqprw
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has tonight doubled down on the betting scandal
Mr Sunak was speaking to The Sun's Harry Cole on our election showdown
Mr Sunak was speaking to The Sun's Harry Cole on our election showdown

Rishi went first on our Never Mind The Ballots election special and was almost immediately grilled on the betting scandal that has engulfed the Tories for the last week.

Sitting in front of Sun readers, Mr Sunak said: "I've been crystal clear, if anyone has broken the rules and not upheld the standards, I would expect they will be held to account.


In our election showdown clash tonight:

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"They should face the consequences of the law, and they will be booted out of the Conservative Party.

"I was as angry as anybody when I heard about these things. The right thing to do is to get to the bottom of this and investigate this properly."

Rishi told our Political Editor to "be careful" as he faced an intense grilling - and repeated he couldn't comment on independent probes.

Asked if the scandal showed the government lacked integrity, Rishi said: "I mean, Harry, just be careful. There are independent inquiries ongoing."

The betting scandal this week threatened to overshadow the Tories' election campaign with four politicians currently under investigation for putting money on the date of the vote.

The PM has been trying to shift the narrative away from the scandal but his hopes were crushed yesterday when the party's chief data officer Nick Mason became the fourth Tory investigated by the Gambling Commission.

Sunak today said he was not "aware" of any other Tory candidates being investigated for election bets.

The Prime Minister said "of course" this meant he and his family had not done so - as he is standing in the election.

It is understood the watchdog has widened its inquiries to investigate whether party insiders used third parties to place bets.

Sources claim the Gambling Commission has identified more persons of interest — on top of officials Tony Lee and Mr Mason, who have taken leave, and candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders.

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The latter pair are still on the election campaign trail as official Tory parliamentary hopefuls.

The PM said earlier today: “The Gambling Commission is independent of Government – it’s independent of me.

“I don’t have the details of their investigation, right? They don’t report to me, I don’t have the details, but what I can tell you is, in parallel, we’ve been conducting our own internal inquiries and of course will act on any relevant findings or information from that and pass it on to the Gambling Commission.”

He added: "What I can tell you is I am not aware of any other candidate that they are looking at.”

You can watch the full political showdown on YouTube.

The PM was grilled in front of Sun readers
The PM was grilled in front of Sun readersCredit: Darren Fletcher

Jane Matthews

UK General Election, Conservative Party, Rishi Sunak

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