LONDON: Five more police officers allegedly placed bets on the timing of the UK general election, a force spokesperson said Tuesday, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak withdrew support from two Conservative candidates over the escalating scandal.
The row has overshadowed the closing stretch of the election campaign as Sunak struggles to close his party’s 21-point average poll deficit to Keir Starmer’s Labour opposition before the July 4 vote.
London’s Metropolitan Police said the Gambling Commission had informed it that five additional officers and a member of Sunak’s protection team were believed to have gambled on the election date.
The protection officer was arrested this month on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and has been placed on restricted duties, the Met said.
The five newly accused have not been arrested and do not “work in a close protection role”, the force added.
“It is still the case that only one officer is under criminal investigation,” it said.
The development came as the Conservatives announced that “as a result of ongoing internal inquiries” it could no longer support Craig Williams or Laura Saunders as candidates at the election.
The two are being investigated by the regulator over claims they bet on when the election would be held, and if they did so based on inside information.
Nominations have closed so they will still appear on the ballot paper.
Sunak has said he is “incredibly angry” over the claims and has come under mounting pressure in recent days from inside and outside his party to act on them.
Britain’s leader took the country by surprise on May 22 when he announced the date of the election six months before he had to.
Williams, a sitting MP, had served as Sunak’s ministerial aide.
He is alleged to have placed a £100 ($127) bet on a July date for the election three days before Sunak called the vote.
Saunders, a Conservative candidate for the southwestern city of Bristol, is married to the Tories’ director of campaigns, Tony Lee. He has taken a leave of absence from the campaign following the allegations.
The party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, has also stepped back from duties over allegations he placed dozens of bets on the election date.
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