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A Conservative parliamentary candidate below investigation over a guess positioned on the timing of the UK election is married to the occasion’s director of campaigning, in line with Tory officers.
Laura Saunders, a Conservative staffer who’s standing for election in Bristol North West, is being investigated by the Playing Fee over an election-related guess, folks conversant in the matter stated.
Individually, two occasion officers stated that Saunders is the spouse of Tony Lee, the Conservative director of campaigning.
Saunders is the newest determine to face scrutiny over bets on the timing of the election. The playing regulator launched a probe into Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide final week and a police officer from the premier’s safety element was arrested earlier this week.
The Conservatives stated: “We now have been contacted by the Playing Fee a couple of small variety of people. Because the Playing Fee is an unbiased physique, it wouldn’t be correct to remark additional, till any course of is concluded.”
Saunders and Lee didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The revelations threaten to additional harm the Tory occasion’s already struggling re-election effort. The Conservatives are trailing Labour closely within the polls, a number of of which have predicted a catastrophic defeat for Sunak and his occasion on the July 4 ballot. The Tory marketing campaign has been hit by Sunak’s personal blunders, together with returning early from D-Day commemorations.
Saunders has labored for the occasion since 2015, most not too long ago serving to to co-ordinate its worldwide work liaising with different centre-right events.
Lee beforehand described himself on-line as a political campaigner “with over 20 years expertise in working elections” and stated he had led the profitable marketing campaign to re-elect former West Midlands mayor Andy Road in 2021. Lee’s LinkedIn web page was not lively on Thursday.
He was appointed director of campaigning by deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who highlighted Lee’s work because the “mastermind” behind Road’s marketing campaign on the occasion’s Spring Discussion board in March 2022.
The Playing Fee stated it was “investigating the potential of offences regarding the date of the election”. It added: “That is an ongoing investigation, and the Fee can’t present any additional particulars right now.”
Craig Williams, who as parliamentary non-public secretary to Sunak was one in all his most trusted aides, can be below investigation after he positioned a £100 guess on a July election simply days earlier than his boss introduced the date of the vote.
Sunak stated he was “very disillusioned” in Williams, who has admitted a “big error of judgment” after he “positioned a flutter” on the election date.
Williams has declined to say whether or not he positioned the guess on the idea of any inside info and Sunak refused to substantiate if Williams had recognized concerning the date of the ballot, insisting it was not applicable to remark whereas an unbiased investigation was below method.
On Monday, London’s Metropolitan Police arrested an officer in Sunak’s private safety element over “alleged bets” positioned on the timing of the July 4 election.
The Met confirmed {that a} member of its Royalty and Specialist Safety command had been held over “alleged bets”, with out figuring out whom he guarded. An individual conversant in the scenario confirmed he had been a part of Sunak’s safety element.