RISHI'S BET FURY
Rishi Sunak ‘incredibly angry’ as he doubles down on election betting rule-breakers in Sun election showdown
Watch our explosive Never Mind the Ballots: Election Showdown on
RISHI Sunak tonight said he's "incredibly angry" about the Tory election betting scandal.
Speaking to The Sun's Political Editor Harry Cole on our election showdown, the Prime Minister insisted anyone involved must "face the full consequences".
3
3
Rishi went first on our Never Mind The Ballots election special and was almost immediately grilled on the betting scandal that has engulfed the Tories for the last week.
Sitting in front of Sun readers, Mr Sunak said: "I've been crystal clear, if anyone has broken the rules and not upheld the standards, I would expect they will be held to account.
In our election showdown clash tonight:
- Rishi Sunak claimed “Keir Starmer won't tell you what he's going to do” - because you won’t like it
- Keir Starmer was hammered by Sun readers over Jeremy Corbyn but heaped praise on Boris Johnson
- The Labour leader saw his plans to beat the small boats crisis blasted by hecklers
- Starmer insisted he will meet with JK Rowling to thrash out trans and gender rights in a bombshell statement
- Sunak claimed that he was one of the first to raise the alarm on Liz Truss's plans in 2022
Read more on politics
"They should face the consequences of the law, and they will be booted out of the Conservative Party.
"I was as angry as anybody when I heard about these things. The right thing to do is to get to the bottom of this and investigate this properly."
Rishi told our Political Editor to "be careful" as he faced an intense grilling - and repeated he couldn't comment on independent probes.
Asked if the scandal showed the government lacked integrity, Rishi said: "I mean, Harry, just be careful. There are independent inquiries ongoing."
Most read in The Sun
The betting scandal this week threatened to overshadow the Tories' election campaign with four politicians currently under investigation for putting money on the date of the vote.
The PM has been trying to shift the narrative away from the scandal but his hopes were crushed yesterday when the party's chief data officer Nick Mason became the fourth Tory investigated by the Gambling Commission.
Sunak today said he was not "aware" of any other Tory candidates being investigated for election bets.
The Prime Minister said "of course" this meant he and his family had not done so - as he is standing in the election.
It is understood the watchdog has widened its inquiries to investigate whether party insiders used third parties to place bets.
Sources claim the Gambling Commission has identified more persons of interest — on top of officials Tony Lee and Mr Mason, who have taken leave, and candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders.
The latter pair are still on the election campaign trail as official Tory parliamentary hopefuls.
The PM said earlier today: “The Gambling Commission is independent of Government – it’s independent of me.
“I don’t have the details of their investigation, right? They don’t report to me, I don’t have the details, but what I can tell you is, in parallel, we’ve been conducting our own internal inquiries and of course will act on any relevant findings or information from that and pass it on to the Gambling Commission.”
Read More on The Sun
He added: "What I can tell you is I am not aware of any other candidate that they are looking at.”
You can watch the full political showdown on .
Top Tory latest in election bets row
By Jonathan Kanengoni
A Tory official is the latest to be probed by the Gambling Commission over claims that bets were placed on the timing of the election.
Chief data officer Nick Mason is reported to have staked dozens of bets, each worth up to £100.
He was told he was part of the probe before the party announced he had taken a leave of absence when approached by The Sunday Times.
Cheating on bets is a criminal offence with a possible jail term of up to two years.
A spokesman for Mr mason said it was inappropriate to comment, but denied wrongdoing. The Tories' director of campaigns Tony Lee and his wife, Laura Saunders, are also being probed - as is the PM's parliamentary private secretary Craig Williams.
A close protection officer of Mr Sunak faces a similar allegation.
3
Topics