Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide placed a £100 bet on a July election three days before the prime minister named the date, the Guardian can reveal.
The Gambling Commission is understood to have launched an inquiry after Craig Williams , the prime minister’s parliamentary private secretary, who became an MP in 2019, placed a bet with Ladbrokes on Sunday 19 May in his constituency of Montgomeryshire .
On 22 May, Sunak made the surprise announcement that a general election would be held on 4 July.
In a statement, Williams said: “I’ve been contacted by a journalist about Gambling Commission inquiries into one of my accounts and thought it best to be totally transparent.
“I put a flutter on the general election some weeks ago. This has resulted in some routine inquiries and I confi rm I will fully cooperate with these. I don’t want it to be a distraction from the campaign; I should have thought how it looks.”
A Conservative party spokesperson added: “We are aware of contact between a Conservative candidate and the Gambling Commission. It is a personal matter for the individual in question. As the Gambling Commission is an independent body, it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded.”
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