Rishi Sunak’s former aide among 15 people charged with election betting offences
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Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide when he was prime minister has been charged along with 14 others with election betting offences.
The 15, also including a current Welsh Senedd member and a former police officer, have been charged with cheating related to bets placed on the timing of the 2024 general election.
They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 10am this Friday to face the charges.
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The Gambling Commission said its investigation, which began in June last year, “focused on individuals suspected of using confidential information – specifically advance knowledge of the proposed election date – to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets”.
It opened the investigation after former Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams, Mr Sunak’s former parliamentary private secretary, admitted placing a £100 bet on 19 May 2024 that the election would be in July.
Mr Sunak announced the general election would be on 4 July, three days after Williams, who was also an election candidate, placed the bet.
Williams, who was dropped as a candidate, admitted last June to placing a “flutter” on the election and said he “committed a serious error of judgement, not an offence”.
Current Senedd member, police officer and Tory campaign director charged
Among those charged is Russell George, a Conservative member of the Welsh Senedd, who returned to the front bench in October after stepping back from his role as spokesman for mid-Wales in June.
Over the weekend, the Welsh Conservatives re-selected him to be a candidate in the Senedd elections next year, but have now suspended him “pending outcome of the justice process”.
Other notable people charged are former police officer Jeremy Hunt, Tony Lee, the Conservatives’ former campaign director, and his wife, Laura Saunders, a former Tory election candidate, and Nick Mason, the Conservatives’ former chief data officer.
Many others are, or were, also Conservative Party staff. The party has said those still working for them have been suspended.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party believes that those working in politics must act with integrity. Current members of staff who have been charged are being suspended with immediate effect.
“These incidents took place in May last year. Our party is now under new leadership and we are cooperating fully with the Gambling Commission to ensure that their investigation can conclude swiftly and transparently.”
Tony Lee was Conservative campaign director
Who are the 15 people charged?
• Simon Chatfield, 51, from Farnham
• Russell George, 50, from Newtown, Wales (suspended Welsh Conservative Senedd member for Montgomeryshire)
• Amy Hind, 34, from Loughton, Essex
• Anthony Hind, 36, from Loughton, Essex
• Jeremy Hunt, 55, from Horley (a former police officer, not the ex-chancellor)
• Thomas James, 38, from Brecon, Wales
• Charlotte Lang, 36, from Brixton
• Anthony Lee, 47, Bristol (known as Tony, former director of Conservative Party campaigning)
• Iain Makepeace, 47, from Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Nick Mason, 51, from Gillingham (former Conservative Party chief data officer)
• Paul Place, 53, from Hammersmith, London
• Laura Saunders, 37, from Bristol (Tony Lee’s wife and Conservative 2024 candidate for Bristol North West who was then dropped)
• James Ward, 40, from east London
• Craig Williams, 39, from Llanfair Caereinion, Welshpool
• Jacob Willmer, 39, from Richmond, London.
Labour candidate Kevin Craig was included in the investigation after placing a bet that he would lose his bid to become an MP, but was cleared of any wrongdoing in December.
Laura Saunders was the party’s candidate in Bristol North West and is the wife of Tony Lee Pic: Laura Saunders for Bristol North West
Ellie Reeves, chair of the Labour Party, said: “This is a very serious development. The British people will expect that anyone found guilty of wrongdoing faces the full force of the law.
“Kemi Badenoch must make crystal clear that anyone found guilty of using insider information to cheat the system to try to enrich themselves has no place in the Conservative Party. No ifs, no buts.
“Labour is turning the page on 14 years of Conservative chaos and scandal and we’re turning our country round through our Plan for Change. Only Labour can be trusted to deliver security for working people and the renewal Britain needs.”
Met Police investigation
After the Gambling Commission began its investigation last June, the Metropolitan Police opened an inquiry into whether any of the political figures or police had committed misconduct in public office.
In August 2024, the Met said they would not be charging any of them, but they remained under investigation by the Gambling Commission into whether they had broken criminal gambling laws.
