"For someone who says publicly that he “doesn't gamble”, Rishi Sunak took a pure sample of gambling risk”. This was written by the online publication "Politico" on May 22 this year, when the Prime Minister of Great Britain and leader of the Conservative Party called early parliamentary elections for July 4.
Sunak shocked Britain, Politico noted at the time, given that his Tories were trailing their main political opponents by more than 20 points at the time – Labour, in most polls. A number of observers expected the prime minister to wait until October or November to call national parliamentary elections to give his party more time to regain lost ground.
The other reason why Sunak's decision was described as a "risk" was the date of the election, which falls in the midst of the European football championship. The British in. "Guardian" noted that it is not known whether Sunak's accounts will pan out, if he harbors any forlorn hope that the “brewing wave of national optimism” in England qualifying for the quarter-finals could help his cause.
Recalled at the end of May by "Politico" Sunak's self-identification that he was "not a betting man" was made in a conversation with TV presenter Piers Morgan on 9 February. Then Morgan suggested during an interview for the channel "Talk TV" to bet the Prime Minister a thousand pounds to be donated to a refugee charity that the first planes to Rwanda under Sunak's migrant deportation scheme would not take off before the election. Sunak shook hands with Morgan for the bet and said he was “working extremely hard to get people on the planes,” Politico reported.
Now, a month after the so-called "gamble move" to set the election for July 4, the British Prime Minister faces a huge problem stemming from an investigation into members of his own party for betting on his own set election date.
Bookmakers in the UK allow betting on politics and the election date is a common bet, but insider betting is considered unfair competition in the UK and is therefore a criminal offence.
This week, both Sunak's Conservatives and the opposition Labor Party withdrew their support for candidates who are being investigated for betting related to the July 4 election. Four senior officials of the Conservative Party, headed by the Prime Minister, are being investigated.
Events
The Conservative Party said on June 20 that its campaign director Tony Lee had resigned two weeks before the election, with Reuters citing an investigation into Lee and his wife Laura Saunders, the Tory MP candidate for Bristol. , for illegal betting on the election date.
The Sunday edition of the British "Times“ – The Sunday Times reported on Sunday June 23 that Nick Mason, the Conservative Party's chief data officer, was also being investigated. Craig Williams, an adviser to the prime minister who is running for re-election to parliament, admitted he was investigated by the Gambling Commission for placing a bet of one hundred pounds on the July election, AP noted.
„I respond to the Commission's routine inquiries and confirm that I will fully cooperate with it. I don't want to distract from my party's election campaign, I had to think about how my act would look from the sidelines,'' Williams told the AP. Sunak announced that he was "extremely angry" in relation to the accusations against his fellow party members, and indicated that this is a "really serious matter".
The Prime Minister-led Conservative Party on Tuesday, June 25, officially withdrew its support for candidates Williams and Saunders over their involvement in the betting scandal. Labor also removed one of its candidates for similar reasons, France Press reported.
In the evening of the same day, the scandal grew further after a cabinet minister admitted he had placed three bets on the date of the election, but was not investigated by the UK Gambling Commission. A Labor candidate also admitted making a bet.
British Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride added that more candidates could be involved in the scandal and that there should be debates about the political stakes.
Sunak's bodyguard was also arrested
London police announced yesterday that they were investigating a “small number of bets” made during the early parliamentary elections, Reuters reported. The metropolitan police specified that similar bets made by at least seven of its employees were found.
"We have reached an agreement for joint action on the case with the Gambling Commission, which is the relevant investigating authority for the majority of these allegations," Police Commissioner Catherine Goodwin said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters. "However, there are a small number of cases that will require a more extensive criminal investigation by the police," she added.
Police clarified that in addition to violating gambling regulations, other crimes such as misconduct in public office may also be considered in these cases. The names of those betting on the date of the election, scheduled by Prime Minister Sunak for July 4, have been compared with the list of London police officers and so far seven people have been identified, Reuters said, citing the authorities.
Arrested in the case was an officer from the Special Protection Department, who, according to the media, was among Prime Minister Sunak's bodyguards. The arrested police officer, who was suspended from duty, has since been released on bail while the investigation continues, the Associated Press reported. The agency specifies that his identity has not been revealed.
"Our focus is on the investigation into confidential information being used to gain an unfair advantage in a bet on the date of the general election,” said Andrew Rhodes, executive director of the Gambling Commission, quoted by Reuters.
"Our enforcement team has made rapid progress so far and will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to bring this case to a just conclusion,” he added.
Decline in support
Support for Sunak's Conservatives continues to slide after her party members, including two candidates on Tory lists for the July 4 election, were investigated for betting on the date of the vote, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The scandal undermines efforts by the Conservatives to close the gap to the opposition Labor Party a week before the national general election.
The increasing number of Conservative Party representatives under investigation has led to a drop in support for the party to 18% of voting intentions, a further two points down, according to a survey by the polling agency “Survey”, published on Wednesday. The Labor Party is currently favored by 41% of voters polled by the agency's representative sample. 1,022 British adults of legal age were surveyed by telephone between June 21 and 25.
The football parallel
Scandals and consequently betting sanctions are nothing new in Britain, but until now the politicians have been entirely behind the scenes, with football taking center stage. The most recent case with a famous athlete is with the striker of the English Premier League team Brentford – Ivan Tony. He was found guilty of 232 breaches of gambling regulations, including betting on his own team to lose – thirteen times.
When he bet on his team losing, Tony did not appear on the field, but on other occasions he is believed to have influenced the bet by his performance on the field.
Ivan Toney was banned from all professional football for eight months by the Football Association in May last year, with the FA insisting the ban be fifteen months. This term was reduced to eleven months, and subsequently to eight.
"Ivan Tony is back, but nothing has changed – gambling is rooted in football,” wrote Jonathan Wilson in the British “Guardian” on January 14 of this year, on the occasion of Tony's return to the field after serving the punishment. Something more – the forward has been named in England's squad for the ongoing European Football Championship in Germany and is looking ahead to Sunday's round of 16 clash with Slovakia.
It is a curious coincidence that just as England were in a preliminary group with Slovakia at another European football championship – in 2016 in France, the British referendum on Brexit was held – the exit of Great Britain from the European Union. England's match with Slovakia was on June 20 and ended 0:0, and the referendum was held on June 23, 2016. From July 1 of the same year, Slovakia took over the EU presidency.
Will Sunak not leave "Downing Street" now, after the new match with Slovakia? like when Great Britain left the EU, asks "Politico".