The mask slips as bets virus highlights Sunak's weakness

The gambling scandal engulfing the Conservatives will go down as Rishi Sunak's Covid. The betting virus is silent. It infects everyone. It is out of control. There is no cure.

- ANDREW GRICE

Unlike many election claims and counterclaims, the controversy is easily understood by the whole population. One pollster told me the public is “more aware of this story than the Euros”. Deltapoll found that three in four people have heard about the Gambling Commission’s investigation, including 86 per cent of over-65s – a key Tory target.

It is a very untimely reminder of the government’s actions during the real pandemic: the rule-breaking of Partygate; Boris Johnson’s lies about Downing Street parties, and the VIP fast lane for people connected to ministers and officials who offered to sell personal protective equipment to the government. Keir Starmer was able to remind voters of Sunak’s fixed penalty notice for (unwittingly) attending a birthday party for Johnson.

The toxic perception that the Tories think the rules are only for “little people” returned to haunt Sunak, who wanted to run on his 18 months as prime minister but is constantly on the defensive over the Tories’ 14 years in power. Michael Gove angered some Tory candidates by admitting the truth: “It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us ... That was damaging at the time of Partygate and is damaging here.”