Early election turns out to have been great chance for Tories to clean up on the betting

[muriel_volestrangler]

Conservatives' director of campaigning takes leave of absence

Tony Lee, the Director of Campaigning at the Conservative Party, has taken a leave of absence, a party spokesperson has told the BBC. He left the campaign yesterday.

His wife, Laura Saunders, is the Conservative candidate being looked into by the Gambling Commission over a bet relating to the timing of the general election.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd119p9een9t

It's so goddamn petty. They couldn't have made millions of it - that would have been too obvious. But they just can't resist the opportunity to make a few hundred quid with a bet using their inside knowledge. It's the same mentality as the Downing St booze parties under lockdown - "we don't have to follow the little rules, like the little people do."

[T_i_B]

1. The ones I feel sorry for

Are the politicians and activists who booked holidays for this time of year to recover from the local election campaign, only to have a general election campaign thrust upon them!

[3Hotdogs]

2. Reminds me of 2004 election. I had a bad feeling about Bush winning the election. I was in London.

So I went to Ladbroke's (perfect name) betting parlor and put a couple'a pounds down on Bush winning. I figured, at least, I'd feel good about something.

I ended up with about 15 lb profit.

It was one of the London tabloid front page ---"How can 150,000,000 people be this stupid? Now comes Trump.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. 4 Tories and several police bet on the date; now a Labour candidate admitted betting on the Tories to win

Probably better an idiot like that isn't in parliament.

The suspended Labour candidate Kevin Craig said he “deeply” regrets putting a bet on the Tories winning in the Suffolk constituency he is contesting.

Craig added he will “fully comply” with a Gambling Commission investigation.

He wrote on X: “A few weeks ago when I thought I would never win this seat I put a bet on the Tories to win here with the intention of giving any winnings to local charities. While I did not place this bet with any prior knowledge of the outcome, this was a huge mistake, for which I apologise unreservedly.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jun/25/uk-general-election-live-updates-latest-today-tories-labour-betting-scandal-polls?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-667afde88f08fb1b8fd1677a#block-667afde88f08fb1b8fd1677a

Not only is betting on your opponent a potential corrupt act, he also stood a chance of winning (but probably not now) - Electoral Calculus had him at 48% chance: https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/calcwork23.py?seat=Suffolk%20Central%20and%20Ipswich%20North

Oh, sorry, 5 Tories:

A Conservative politician has become the fifth party figure to be investigated by the gambling watchdog for allegedly placing a suspicious bet on the general election date, as the developing scandal continued to overshadow Rishi Sunak’s campaign.

The Gambling Commission has informed Russell George, a Tory member of the Welsh parliament who represents the same constituency as Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide Craig Williams, that he is part of its inquiry.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/25/election-betting-fifth-tory-investigated-in-growing-scandal

Still, you have to laugh - BBC radio pointed out Kevin Craig was the founder and CEO of PLMR public relations - who worked on the "Responsible Gambling Week".

[T_i_B]

4. I genuinely can't understand why candidates think this is OK

If they were professional sports athletes they would be looking at severe or permanent bans for getting caught playing at this sort of nonsense!

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. I can see that they might claim betting on themselves or their own party to win might be OK

though I believe professional sport players aren't allowed even to do that (whether because they might still have inside information - say, a teammate is recovering from injury faster than publicly known - or just to discourage betting which has been a personal problem in sporting types, I'm not sure). You might say that internal polls could give a similar unfair advantage, though. They should at least be willing to say in public when they do "I've just bet on myself to win - I think we have a better chance than the bookies say".

But the bets on timing of elections, or on your opponent to win, just look like cheating.

I wonder when people will bring up Sunak's bet with Piers Morgan about sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. Sure, it was for each to nominate a charity (Morgan has already claimed victory, and nominated the British Red Cross), and it was indeed in public, but it might be good for someone to mention it and see how Sunak tries to justify what he did.

Oh, I hadn't seen this - Sunak has tried to say the one guy who they paid to go there means the bet was off:

Link to tweet