RISHI SUNAK finally acted over the Tory gambling scandal today by suspending the two Conservative candidates who are being probed for illegal betting.
The party said “it would no longer support” Craig Williams in Montgomeryshire and Laura Saunders in Bristol North-West after days of debilitating controversy over the issue.
Previously the Prime Minister had used the fact that the Gambling Commission was investigating the allegations as an excuse for political passivity.
As well as the now-suspended candidates, two senior Tory functionaries, who have been placed on leave of absence, and up to six police officers are being investigated over placing bets on the election date based on inside information.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked of the Premier, “why didn’t he do that last week?” in relation to the suspensions, and the Liberal Democrats made the same point.
Even the Tory right got in on the act, with former Brexit minister Lord Frost tweeting: “We get there in the end.
“But why did it take so long to come to a decision that seemed so necessary right from the start?”
The two candidates cannot now be removed from the ballot paper, nor can their Conservative designation be changed.
But the party will no longer support their campaigns and in the unlikely event of either being elected nevertheless, they would sit in the Commons as independents.
The Tories suggested that their move had finally been prompted by what had been uncovered in their own internal investigation, running parallel to that of the Gambling Commission. There are fears that more names may emerge.
Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth said: “Rishi Sunak now needs to come clean with voters across the country and tell them exactly how many of his Conservatives are implicated and who they are.
“Just as with ‘Partygate’ and the PPE scandal, the Conservatives believe it is one rule for them, another for everyone else.”
That is clearly the message voters are getting. Latest polling shows that of those who voted Tory in 2019 only 35 per cent intend to do so again on July 4.
And 28 per cent of 2019 Tories are now backing Reform, with 18 per cent shifting to Labour.
As a result the Tories are now diverting more and more financial and human resources into seats where they are defending 20,000-plus majorities.
And last night Labour too was forced to suspend a parliamentary candidate, Kevin Craig in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich after it emerged that he too was being probed by the Gambling Commission.
It is not known what his alleged offence may have been, but Labour will hope that its swift action will draw a favourable contrast with the Tories.
