June 23, 2024
2 mins read

Gove compares election betting scandal to Partygate

Mason is being investigated by betting regulators, accused of placing dozens of bets on the election date according to the Times. He is the fourth Tory figure to be implicated in the affair…reports Asian Lite News

A senior British minister compared the latest scandal involving Tory candidates accused of betting on the election date to Partygate, a series of Covid-era parties that brought down Boris Johnson.

Housing minister Michael Gove compared the betting allegations to the Partygate scandal in an interview with the Times newspaper on Saturday.

“It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us… That’s the most potentially damaging thing,” said Gove, who is standing down this election after 14 years as an MP.

“That was damaging at the time of Partygate and is damaging here,” he added.

Prime minister Johnson was forced from office in 2022 following public anger at the revelations of parties held in Downing Street when the rest of the country was under lockdown during the pandemic.

Now another senior Conservative Party figure has been caught up in the latest scandal. The party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, has taken a leave of absence, following claims he placed bets on the timing of the election, the PA news agency reported Saturday.

Mason is being investigated by betting regulators, accused of placing dozens of bets on the election date according to the Times. He is the fourth Tory figure to be implicated in the affair.

The party’s campaign director stepped aside following reports on Thursday that he and his wife, a Tory candidate in the July 4 election, were under investigation by the Gambling Commission.

The scandal broke a week earlier, when Tory candidate and Sunak’s ministerial aide Craig Williams said he was being probed for staking a bet on the snap election date before it was called. On Wednesday, London police said one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s security detail had been arrested for allegedly placing a bet on the date.

Sunak has said he is “incredibly angry” over the revelations. “If anyone is found to have broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure that they are booted out of the Conservative Party,” he said earlier this week.

Political bets are allowed in the UK, including on the date of elections, but using insider knowledge to do so is against the law. The inquiries heap further misery on Sunak, whose party has trailed Labour by about 20 points in the polls for nearly two years, making it odds-on to be dumped out of office after 14 years.

Gove said that those involved in the betting scandal were “sucking the oxygen out of the campaign.” Comparing it to Partygate again, he added: “A few individuals end up creating an incredibly damaging atmosphere for the party.

“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.”

ALSO READ-UK risks ‘descending into darkness’ of antisemitism, says Gove

Previous Story

ICRC official describes Rafah as a ‘ghost town’

Next Story

Sunak claims Starmer could put Brexit in peril

Latest from -Top News

Fresh Israeli Raids Hit Iran

The strikes came shortly after Iran fired a missile at Israel before dawn and triggered air raid sirens across much of the country….reports Asian Lite News Israel conducted a new wave of

Awami League Blasts Yunus ‘Propaganda’

Sheikh Hasina’s party slammed Ordinance No. 30, 2025, calling state recognition of the event an attempt to legitimise an “unconstitutional and unethical conspiracy….reports Asian Lite News Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League has strongly

Netanyahu: Iran Goals Near

Netanyahu pledged not to let Israel get dragged into a “war of attrition” with Tehran…reports Asian Lite News Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Sunday that Israel is “very close” to

Pakistan Snubs US at UN

Ahmad said that Pakistan, in collaboration with its all-weather friend, China and its ally, Russia, was circulating a draft resolution for the Council to adopt….reports Asian Lite News Despite the high-profile lunch
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Election campaigns come alive in Kerala

Modi appears to have come to terms with reality and

Libya announces postpone elections to February 2022

The High Council of State in Libya has announced an