An aide to U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has brought on an investigation of himself for placing a wager on when the PM would call the snap election. The election was called for July 4.
The revelations about Craig Williams, parliamentary private secretary to Sunak, came up when the election campaign was about halfway through. Sunak’s Conservative party is attempting to retain leadership of the government, but many forecasters say Labour will cruise to victory.
Williams is also a candidate for MP. He bet £100 ($127.92) that the election would be called for July—at a time when most experts believed it would be called in the fall. Since the PM calls the election, Williams is being accused of betting with insider’s knowledge and subverting the integrity of the election process.
Williams placed the bet at a Ladbrokes shop in his constituency. It would have yielded £500 ($639.58). Williams conceded that the Gambling Commission has contacted him about the better. He promised to fully cooperate.
He told reporters, “I’ve been contacted by a journalist about Gambling Commission inquiries into one of my accounts and thought it best to be totally transparent.” He added, “I put a flutter on the General Election some weeks ago. This has resulted in some routine inquiries and I confirm I will fully cooperate with these.”
The Labour party’s Jonathan Ashworth called the incident “utter extraordinary” and said it highlight’s the PM’s poor judgment. He declared, “Rishi Sunak has sat on this information for more than a week but has lacked any backbone to take action,” adding, “Once again, Rishi Sunak has been exposed as utterly weak.”
The Liberal Democrat party has also urged Sunak to suspend Williams as a candidate.
