Yahoo Finance Election 2024: Cleverly says ‘no reason to believe’ cabinet ministers made bets
James Cleverly has said he had “no reason to believe” any cabinet ministers placed a bet on the timing of the general election.
The home secretary told Sky News he would not defend any Tories who were found to have placed bets on the election date.
It comes after the Conservative Party’s chief data officer Nick Mason has taken a leave of absence after the Sunday Times published allegations that he had placed bets on the date the election would be held.
The Gambling Commission is investigating Mason, alongside Tony Lee, the party’s director of campaigns, and his wife Laura Saunders, who is standing in the Bristol North West seat.
Craig Williams, who was Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary and a Tory candidate in Wales, has admitted to putting “a flutter” on the date and also faces a probe.
While one of the Prime Minister’s police protection officers has been arrested over allegedly placing bets on the general election date.
Speaking to Trevor Phillips, Cleverly said: “There is an investigation by the Gambling Commission and we have been told very, very clearly that we are not to discuss the investigations.”
He said that “my understanding is that it is a small number of individuals” involved.
Asked if any Cabinet ministers were involved, he said: “I’ve got no reason to believe any of them were, at all.”
On why Sunak was not sacking anyone who admitted placing a bet, Cleverly said it was a matter for the Gambling Commission to investigate.
And asked by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC if “to your knowledge” any ministers had placed bets on the election timing, he said: “No, not to my knowledge.”
He added: “I intend to abide by the explicit instructions of the Gambling Commission which is not to discuss this and I know that’s going to be frustrating but they’ve made it clear that we shouldn’t and I’m going to stick to that.
“There is a system, there is a process, the Gambling Commission are doing the investigation, that’s appropriate.”
But levelling up secretary Michael Gove, who is standing down at the July 4 election, has compared the impact of the row with the Partygate scandal, calling it “just not acceptable”.
“It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us,” he told the Sunday Times, adding: “That’s the most potentially damaging thing… if these allegations are true, it’s very difficult to defend.”
