Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide when he was prime minister has been charged along with 14 others with election betting offences.
The 15, also including a current Welsh Senedd member and a former police officer, have been charged with cheating related to bets placed on the timing of the 2024 general election.
They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 10am this Friday to face the charges.
The Gambling Commission said its investigation, which began in June last year, “focused on individuals suspected of using confidential information – specifically advance knowledge of the proposed election date – to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets”.
It opened the investigation after MP Craig Williams, Mr Sunak’s former parliamentary private secretary, admitted placing a £100 bet on 19 May 2024 that the election would be in July.
Mr Sunak announced the general election would be on 4 July, three days after Williams, who was also an election candidate, placed the bet.
Williams, who was dropped as a candidate, admitted last June to placing a “flutter” on the election and said he “committed a serious error of judgement, not an offence”.
Among those charged is Russell George, a Conservative member of the Welsh Senedd, who returned to the front bench in October after stepping back from his role as spokesman for mid-Wales in June.
The Welsh Conservatives re-selected him to be a candidate in the Senedd elections next year but on hearing the news he was charged suspended him “pending outcome of the justice process”.
The 15 people charged are:
• Simon Chatfield, 51, from Farnham
• Russell George, 50, from Newtown, Wales (suspended Welsh Conservative Senedd member for Montgomeryshire)
• Amy Hind, 34, from Loughton, Essex
• Anthony Hind, 36, from Loughton, Essex
• Jeremy Hunt, 55, from Horley (a former police officer)
• Thomas James, 38, from Brecon, Wales
• Charlotte Lang, 36, from Brixton
• Anthony Lee, 47, Bristol (known as Tony, former director of Conservative Party campaigning)
• Iain Makepeace, 47, from Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Nick Mason, 51, from Gillingham (former Conservative Party chief data officer)
• Paul Place, 53, from Hammersmith, London
• Laura Saunders, 37, from Bristol (Tony Lee’s wife and Conservative 2024 candidate for Bristol North West who was then dropped)
• James Ward, 40, from east London
• Craig Williams, 39, from Llanfair Caereinion, Welshpool
• Jacob Willmer, 39, from Richmond, London.
Labour candidate Kevin Craig was included in the investigation after placing a bet that he would lose his bid to become an MP, but was cleared of any wrongdoing in December.
Met Police investigation
After the Gambling Commission began its investigation last June, the Metropolitan Police opened an inquiry into whether any of the political figures or police had committed misconduct in public office, after being contacted by the gambling watchdog.
In August 2024, the Met said they would not be charging any of them, but they remained under investigation by the Gambling Commission into whether they had broken criminal gambling laws.
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