Dear oh dear. With less than two weeks to go until polling day, Rishi Sunak’s campaign has been hit with more bad news. Over the last 24 hours, it has emerged that now two Tory candidates – Laura Saunders in addition to Craig Williams – are under investigation by the Gambling Commission after placing bets on the general election date.
It gets murkier: Saunders is married to the Conservative party’s campaign director Tony Lee – who has been forced to go on leave after also coming under investigation for election gambling. And now Mr S can reveal another mind-boggling piece of the puzzle: Lee’s ex-wife, Mary Page, is the Green candidate in Bristol North West – standing against his current wife, Saunders. Whew. That’s taking rivalry to the next level…
Mr S hears from multiple sources that Page, a former journalist who went on to work at South Gloucestershire council and the Department for Work and Pensions, was previously married to Lee. This morning she did not deny the claims, telling Steerpike: ‘It’s an awkward situation and I want to be considerate for all parties involved.’ What are the odds eh?
During Thursday’s night leaders’ debate, a stony-faced Sunak fumed he was ‘incredibly angry to learn of these allegations’, adding: ‘It’s a really serious matter… If anyone has broken the rules they should face the full force of the law.’ Placing bets with insider knowledge is a criminal offence and the optics are hardly optimal during a time that the public’s trust in their politicians is seriously lacking. Neither the Conservative party nor the Gambling Commission will add any more details about these cases, but the Prime Minister is facing calls to suspend the implicated candidates. Stay tuned…
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