(London) Already in disarray, the campaign of British Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for the legislative elections encountered a new crisis on Thursday with suspicions of fraudulent bets on the date of the vote targeting candidates from his party.
Two weeks before the elections, polls predict a defeat for the Tories never seen in nearly 200 years of existence against Labor, and the head of government is now under attack on the integrity of his troops.
The commission responsible for regulating betting wonders if certain people did not take advantage of their proximity to Rishi Sunak to bet on the date on which this election would be held.
While everyone was expecting it in the fall, the Prime Minister announced on May 22, to everyone’s surprise, that the vote would take place on July 4.
The case took on a new dimension on Wednesday evening when the London police indicated that they had received the case of an agent from the unit responsible for the protection of public figures.
He was arrested then released on parole, while the police were seized.
Last week, a Conservative MP and adviser to Rishi Sunak was accused of placing a £100 ($175) bet on an election in July three days before it was called.
Craig Williams, currently a candidate in a constituency in Wales, admitted an “error of judgment” without confirming he had confidential information.
And on Wednesday evening, the BBC revealed that another conservative candidate was in the betting regulator’s sights: Laura Sanders, married to ruling party campaign manager Tony Lee.
The latter, who would also be suspected, went on leave on Wednesday, in the final stretch before the vote.
“It’s not great, and obviously the conclusions that many people are drawing from it are not great,” Conservative minister Michael Gove conceded.
Rishi Sunak, a wealthy 44-year-old former investment banker, failed to get his campaign off the ground in four weeks.
This has been weighed down by a series of blunders, and above all by the distrust of the British in the face of repeated political crises, the difficulties of the health system, then the decline in purchasing power since 2022.
His party, which has been in power for 14 years but has shifted to the right in recent years, has been further weakened by the progress of the campaign of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, boosted by the notoriety of its leader Nigel Farage .
The polls, although very varied, agree to give Labor (centre left) a very large majority of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, which should allow its leader Keir Starmer to easily enter 10 Downing Street .
And the millions of Britons who vote by post have already started to send in their ballots, making it even more difficult for the Tories to catch up with their abysmal deficit.
Delving into this new affair, Labor and Liberal Democrats (centrists) called for an investigation to determine the extent of the fraudulent bets and the suspension of the suspected candidates.
“If these were my candidates, I would have gotten rid of them already,” said Keir Starmer, a 61-year-old former lawyer and director of public prosecutions.
“Once again it appears that the rules that apply to Tory party members are not the same as those that apply to everyone else,” added Labor campaign coordinator Pat McFadden, in a mail to Rishi Sunak.
He recalled the promise of “integrity” made by the head of government when he came to power in October 2022, after a series of conflicts of interest targeting the Tories and the Downing Street party scandal during confinement, who contributed to the downfall of his predecessor Boris Johnson.
