Gillian Keegan has said she hopes voters are “not too fed up” with the Conservatives as her party continues to be rattled by the election date gambling scandal.
The education secretary acknowledged that the timing of the “Gamble-gate” scandal was “terrible” for the Conservative Party, and expressed her hope that the investigations into the claims would be concluded “quickly”
However, she stressed the need for “due process” to be followed.
In total, four Conservative candidates and officials are currently being investigated by the Gambling Commission — the last one named was the party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason.
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This latest revelation, first reported by The Sunday Times, alleged Mason had placed dozens of bets with potential winnings worth thousands of pounds.
The news came after it emerged that Tony Lee, the party’s director of campaigns, and his wife Laura Saunders, the candidate for Bristol North West, are also under investigation by the Gambling Commission — alongside Craig Williams, the PM’s parliamentary private secretary and candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr.
Questioned over the scandal, Keegan told Sky News: “Those things, hopefully they can be done quite quickly, I don’t know what the timescales are.
“But to be fair you do need to allow people to have due process and that will actually be determining then what follows, what actions need to be taken. You do have to put them in that order. That is pretty normal to put them in that order.
“I understand the timing is terrible. It is terrible for Rishi himself and he is obviously very angry about it as we all are. But you do have to get the facts established and then take the appropriate action based on what they tell us that is.”
She added: “I think it is a big question for the country. Somebody [Rishi Sunak] that has a plan, that has thought things through, and somebody [Keir Starmer] who has got slogans.
“And I hope that they are not too fed up with us that they give us another shot because we do have the right ideas for the country and it will make a big difference if we have a bit more time to put the country back to rights.”
It comes as a serving minister has urged the prime minister to suspend the Conservative candidates involved in the betting scandal.
Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker has said he would suspend anyone who bet on the timing of the election.
Speaking to ITV’s Peston on Monday evening, Baker said: “I would call them up and ask them, ‘Did you do it?’ And if they did it, then they are suspended.”
Baker added that the “prime minister would have to answer why he hasn’t done it. I haven’t got inside information on why the prime minister hasn’t done it.”
The Conservatives have launched their own inquiry into whether politicians or officials gambled on the timing of the election, Rishi Sunak confirmed on Tuesday, as the prime minister denied that he had placed any bets himself.
The PM told reporters he was not aware of any further candidates being looked into and was not himself being investigated, saying he had never bet on a political event.
However, Sunak is still refusing to suspend Williams and Saunders, insisting he “will act on any relevant findings or information” from both the Conservative and Gambling Commission investigations.
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