James Cleverly stated that he has “no reason to believe” that any cabinet ministers have placed bets on the election date, emphasizing that he will not defend those who did. He mentioned that there is an ongoing investigation by the Gambling Commission and that they have been instructed not to discuss it. Cleverly believes that only a “small number of individuals” are involved in this issue, which arose after the Conservative party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, took a leave of absence due to claims that he bet on the timing of the general election. This situation has caused concern within the party, with Michael Gove comparing it to the Partygate scandal and expressing disappointment in the actions of those involved.
General election live: James Cleverly says he has ‘no reason to believe’ cabinet ministers placed bets on date of vote | General election 2024
Cleverly says he has ‘no reason to believe’ cabinet ministers placed bets on election date
James Cleverly said he has “no reason to believe” that any cabinet ministers have betted on the election date.
“I am not in any way going to defend people that placed bets on that,” the home secretary told Sky News.
“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 he believes only a “small number of individuals” are involved.
Cleverly’s comments come after the Conservative party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, took a leave of absence amid claims he placed bets on the timing of the general election. Mason is the fourth Conservative reportedly being looked into over allegedly betting on the timing of the general election.
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Updated at 09.26 BST
Key events
The SNP leader John Swinney said at the manifesto launch that a win in Scotland for his party would be a mandate to push for a second vote.
The Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, widely expected to become the prime minister after 4 July, said categorically last week that he would refuse to participate in negotiations for another independence referendum even if the SNP won a majority of seats.
On her Sunday programme, Laura Kuenssberg asked Swinney if voters can trust the SNP’s manifesto even though the Tories and Labour have both said they would not grant a second independence referendum vote.
The Scottish first minister said:
So what I am saying in this election is that if people in Scotland want to be an independent country, then they’ve got to support the Scottish National Party as the only means of ensuring that can come about and we cannot allow the westminster political parties to deny the people of Scotland their democratic rights and the democratic opportunity to decide their own constitutional future.
Because I think it’s an essential solution to the issues that people face in their lives today. If you look at the challenges of public spending cuts, which you’ve talked about in this programme, the devastating effects of Brexit on our country and our economy, and the impact of the cost of living these are all issues that have been delivered by westminster.
These are all problems created by westminster decision making, or forcing yourself as the European Union against the will of people in Scotland. And then the prolonging of public spending cuts which is what the Labour party will do when they come to office.
Now, my answer to that is to make sure that decisions about the future of Scotland are made in Scotland, for Scotland. And that can only come about if people are prepared to vote for that in the forthcoming general election.
Swinney added that he won’t pre-judge the outcome of the election when asked what he would do if his party fails to get a majority of seats.
The Scottish first minister points out the SNP won a majority in Holyrood in 2021 on a pro-independence platform, saying that mandate “has to be delivered”.
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Updated at 10.38 BST
Scotland’s first minister ‘assured’ by his staff that no stamps bought on Holyrood expenses were used for party campaigning
The SNP is being investigated by Holyrood authorities over potential misuse of MSPs’ expenses to fund campaigning for the general election.
The Mail on Sunday obtained messages that suggested the SNP leader John Swinney’s office manager was involved in discussions about the use of stamps allegedly paid for by taxpayers.
In one WhatsApp message sent to an SNP group chat, the Scottish first minister’s assistant reportedly wrote: ‘The stamp fairy is very useful when it comes to campaigns!”
Swinney told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme:
Well, I’ve obviously discussed this with my staff. I’ve been assured that no parliamentary stamps that have been provided by parliament have been used to support election purposes.
And it obviously the parliament has said that they’re looking into this matter, and obviously we will provide parliament with any assistance they require as they undertake those inquiries.
When pressed on specifically who the “stamp fairy” is, he added:
We campaign on a regular basis in my capacity as a member of parliament. So we’re engaging with the public on a countless range of different issues. So I think these are sort of humorous remarks made in a WhatsApp channel. And what’s important is the reassurance that I’ve had that parliamentary stamps have not been used for election purposes.
The SNP investigation comes as the party struggles to raise funds, with falling membership hitting party income and larger donations ebbing away amid the police investigation into alleged embezzlement of party funds.
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Updated at 10.18 BST
Lib Dems call on Sunak to suspend all those under investigation in ‘all-out’ election gambling scandal
The Liberal Democrats have said that Rishi Sunak should “personally intervene” in the “all-out” gambling scandal and suspend all those under investigation by the Gambling Commission for allegedly placing bets on the general election date.
The party’s deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, said:
This is now an all-out scandal at the heart of Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party.
Sunak must personally intervene to order a Cabinet Office inquiry and suspend all those under investigation by the Gambling Commission.
People are sick and tired of this sleaze. Day by day, hour by hour, the Conservative government mire themselves in more of it.
From the mini budget to the crisis in our NHS, the Conservatives have bet against Britain. Now, people are voting for the Liberal Democrats to deliver the change our country desperately needs.
Her comments come after the Sunday Times reported that a fourth Conservative is reportedly being looked into by the Gambling Commission over bets allegedly placed on the date of the general election.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC on Sunday that there is “genuine disgust” among voters over the general election betting allegations.
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Updated at 10.40 BST
Conservatives ‘cynically’ pursuing a ‘voter suppression strategy’, shadow education secretary says
Bridget Phillipson said a Labour victory is “not a done deal” as she accused the Conservatives of pursuing a “voter suppression” strategy.
The shadow education secretary told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News:
People shouldn’t look at the polls and think this is a done deal. If people want change, if they want to turn the corner on 14 years of failure, then they’ve got to get out and vote Labour on 4 July …
I’ve been across the country, there’s a lot of people that have still not made up their minds in this election and in those seats a couple of hundred votes will be the difference between a Labour government or five more years of the Conservatives.
What the Tories are doing – very, very cynically – is a voter suppression strategy. They want people to think this is all in the bag, don’t worry about it, you don’t need to come out and vote.
Worse than that, I think it’s an attempt to distract from their manifesto, which if they got the chance to implement that would crash the economy just like Liz Truss did.
Her comments come after the latest Opinium poll for the Observer puts Labour on 40% (unchanged compared with a week ago), with the Tories languishing on just 20% (down three on the week).
The 20-point figure equals the highest Labour lead under Keir Starmer other than during the catastrophic and short-lived premiership of Liz Truss.
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Updated at 09.42 BST
Shadow education secretary says she wishes she could ‘wave a magic wand’ and commit to more policies
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has been asked about the two-child cap, which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.
Labour’s manifesto for government, included the promise of an “ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty”, but no mention of the controversial two-child limit.
Q: You could, for example, choose to unfreeze fuel duty and that would provide you with the £3bn/3.5bn you would need to lift the two child cap. You have actually made a choice: you are going to keep motorists where they are and help them out, but not help families with more than two children.
Phillipson responded by saying she wishes that Labour could “wave a magic wand” and “right every wrong” of the last 14 years, but that this is not possible within the financial constraints an incoming Labour government would be tied to if elected.
She told Sky News:
This was a conservative policy that we did not support. But I cannot sit here today and say to you, we can fix every problem or we can make commitments in every area. Because stability in the economy is important and it is working families – including those who are currently experiencing poverty – who are paying evermore when you’ve got a government that plays fast and loose with the public finances. We need to return stability to the economy.
But absolutely, a Labour government will put right at its heart the need to tackle and bear down on those numbers when it comes to child poverty. I see it every day in my community.
I know the impact it has. I wish that we could commit to more but it’s just not possible. And we have to be upfront with the British people about the tough choices that we will face after 14 years of failure.
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Updated at 09.48 BST
The home secretary, James Cleverly, said that the Reform party leader, Nigel Farage, has repeatedly said his motivation is “complete toxicity towards the Conservative party”. He told Trevor Phillips on Sky News that he can’t see Farage in the future of the Tory party as things stand.
He talked about his pride in his former role as foreign secretary in supporting Ukraine defend itself against the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022. He was speaking after Farage’s comments made in a BBC Panorama interview on Friday, in which he said that the west “provoked” Moscow into invading Ukraine through Nato and EU expansion eastward.
“When we see comments coming out of that party which are echoing Putin’s lines, saying that Churchill should have appeased Hitler, I cannot envisage how attitudes like that have any home in the Conservative party now or in the future.”
“The things that he and others have said – both about the conservative party and about world affairs – means I cannot see how it can be a natural home in the Conservative party.”
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Updated at 09.47 BST
Cleverly says he has ‘no reason to believe’ cabinet ministers placed bets on election date
James Cleverly said he has “no reason to believe” that any cabinet ministers have betted on the election date.
“I am not in any way going to defend people that placed bets on that,” the home secretary told Sky News.
“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 he believes only a “small number of individuals” are involved.
Cleverly’s comments come after the Conservative party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, took a leave of absence amid claims he placed bets on the timing of the general election. Mason is the fourth Conservative reportedly being looked into over allegedly betting on the timing of the general election.
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Updated at 09.26 BST
Aide described Rwanda scheme as ‘crap’ for ‘dramatic effect’, home secretary says
The home secretary, James Cleverly, who is the candidate for Braintree, is being interviewed on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme.
He was asked about reports that James Sunderland, a Tory parliamentary candidate and aide to Cleverly, described the government’s Rwanda scheme as “crap” at a private event in April. The BBC broke the story after being passed the recording of the event.
Cleverly said:
So, I saw that headline and i was quite surprised because i know James has been very supportive both of me personally and of the policy.
Of course I have had a conversation with him and I have also heard the recording. And it is clear what he is doing. He is putting forward a very counterintuitive statement to grab the attention of the audience …
If you actually listen to what he then went on to say, he was saying that the impact, the effect is what matters. He went on to say that the deterrent effect we have seen working in Australia, which has an analogous policy.
He also said that when the first flights take off it will send a shock wave (his words), a shock wave across the channel, setting a very very clear message to the people smugglers and the people putting themselves in the hand of people smugglers.
“He did it clearly for dramatic effect, to grab the attention of the audience,” Cleverly added, insisting Sunderland is supportive of the government’s flagship Rwanda policy.
The Rwanda scheme involves sending some asylum seekers who arrive in the UK via irregular routes, including small boat crossings via the Channel, to the east African country.
People sent to Rwanda will have their asylum claims processed there and, if successful, granted refugee status in the country. If unsuccessful, they could seek asylum in another “safe third country” or apply to settle in Rwanda on other grounds.
The controversial five-year deal was initially introduced under the former home secretary, Priti Patel, in 2022 to tackle the growing numbers of people crossing the Channel in small boats. However, it has faced several legal challenges, which have prevented flights from taking off to Kigali.
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Betting scandal as bad for Tories as Partygate, says Michael Gove
As we mentioned in the opening summary, the housing secretary, Michael Gove, has told the Sunday Times that the election betting row is as damaging to the Conservatives as the Partygate scandal. Here are some more of his quotes given to the paper:
Gove said:
It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us. That’s the most potentially damaging thing. The perception that we operate outside the rules that we set for others. That was damaging at the time of Partygate and is damaging here …
If you’re in a privileged position [close] to the prime minister at the heart of a political operation and you use inside information to make additional money for yourself, that’s just not acceptable …
You are, in effect, securing an advantage against other people who are betting entirely fairly and without that knowledge. So, if these allegations are true, it’s very difficult to defend.
Gove accused those involved of “sucking the oxygen out of the campaign”, saying that, just as with Partygate, “a few individuals end up creating an incredibly damaging atmosphere for the party”.
The incident does not reflect on the conduct of the majority of Tory supporters who are selling the party’s “big arguments” on the doorstep, he said. “So it’s both bad in itself, but also destructive to the efforts of all of those good people who are currently fighting hard for the Conservative vote.”
Michael Gove is standing down at the next general election. Photograph: Leon Neal/Reuters
You can read this useful explainer about the UK election betting scandal here.
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Opening summary
Good morning, and welcome to our continued coverage of the 2024 general election campaign.
Late on Saturday, the Sunday Times reported the Conservative party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, had taken a leave of absence amid claims he was among those who placed bets on the timing of the election. It was claimed dozens of bets had been placed with potential winnings worth thousands of pounds.
A spokesperson for Mason told the newspaper that it would be inappropriate to comment during an investigation but he denies wrongdoing. Mason is the fourth Conservative reportedly being looked into by the Gambling Commission over bets allegedly placed on the date of the general election.
Michael Gove, the housing secretary, has condemned the latest reports, and likened the controversy to Partygate. “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.”
Gove went on to suggest it was “just not acceptable” for those in a “privileged position” close to the prime minister to use what he described as “inside information to make additional money for yourself”.
The betting scandal began with revelations in the Guardian about a wager placed by one of Sunak’s political aides, Craig Williams.
It is the last thing Rishi Sunak needs, with his party on track for heavy losses on 4 July; some polls suggest up to half of the cabinet, including the prime minister himself, are at risk of losing their seats.
The latest Opinium poll for the Observer puts Labour on 40% (unchanged compared with a week ago), with the Tories languishing on just 20% (down three on the week).
Here is some of what to expect on the campaign trail today:
Home secretary James Cleverly, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson and SNP leader John Swinney will be among those being interviewed by broadcasters this morning.
Rishi Sunak will be campaigning in North Yorkshire on Sunday, ahead of gearing up for the final two weeks on the election trail.
The Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper, who is also the Lib Dem health spokesperson, will be campaigning in the home counties to spread the message on improving ambulance response times to emergency callouts.
Leaders from Northern Ireland’s political parties will take part in a UTV debate.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross will be on the campaign trail in the Aberdeenshire North and Moray East constituency.
It is Yohannes Lowe here for the next couple of hours. If you want to get my attention then please do email me on yohannes.lowe@theguardian.com.
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Updated at 09.10 BST
Read the full story on www.theguardian.com
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jun/23/general-election-live-betting-allegations-tories-labour-snp-politics-latest