Five more Met Police officers have been accused of placing bets on the date of the general election, as the scandal continues to overshadow the campaign trails leading up to 4 July.
A Met Police spokesperson said the Gambling Commission passed on the information regarding the officers to the force as it continues to investigate.
“The officers have not been arrested but the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed,” they added.
The officers are based on the royalty and specialist command, the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command and the central west basic command unit.
It comes as the Tories suspended two candidates who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission.
Former Brexit minister Lord Frost has joined growing calls for the prime minister to explain why it took nearly two weeks to act.
The PM previously ruled out suspending the candidates until the independent body had concluded its investigation.
Voters believe betting scandal candidates should be suspended
Voters think candidates who had placed bets on the election date should be barred from standing, Kate Devlin reports.
Two thirds of the public, 63 per cent, say candidates who placed bets on the date of the general election should not be allowed to stand.
And more than half, 54 per cent, of Conservative voters agree.
The Savanta research was carried out between 21 and 24 June, before today’s announcement the Tories were withdrawing their support for Craig Williams and Laura Saunders.
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Tory chairman’s campaign leaflets sent to wrong constituency
Hundreds of campaign leaflets for the chairman of the Conservative party Richard Holden have been sent to the wrong constituency, the BBC reports.
The party has admitted the mistake was out of their control but it did not confirm how many were lost.
Mr Holden, who oversees the national party campaigning, has seen his election material end up in Rayleigh and Wickford.
He confirmed that just a “few hundred” leaflets were misplaced but some party insiders have admitted it is more like thousands.
Craig Williams speaks up after being suspended from Conservative party
The candidate for Montgomeryshire, who has been dropped by the Tories as a candidate over bettingon the election timing, has admitted he committed a mistake.
Craig Williams said he remained on the ballot paper and intended to clear his name after being dropped by the Conservatives over betting on the date of the General Election.
In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Williams said: “I just want a quick message to the constituents of Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr. I remain on the ballot paper come July 4 and I hope to secure your support after years of delivery.
“I committed an error of judgment, not an offence, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you.
“I am fully co-operating with routine inquiries from the Gambling Commission and I intend to clear my name.”
Faiza Shaheen accuses Labour of telling ‘vicious lies’ about her deselection
The former candidate, who is now running as an independent after being dropped from the party, claims Labour members are spreading “vicious lies” about her deselection.
Ms Shaheen claims the party told voters she was suspended for “more serious reasons”.
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Gething: ‘If a professional footballer had placed a bet, he’d be banned’
Vaughan Gething has said that a footballer would be banned from the game if they placed a bet in the way Conservative candidates have been accused of doing.
Responding to a question from Conservative MS Natasha Asghar on his own integrity at FMQs on Tuesday, Mr Gething said: “If you really want to talk about scandals – and today is a day to do that, is it not, Natasha Asghar – look at former Conservative Senedd staffer Craig Williams, now finally junked as a Conservative candidate.
The first minister of Wales added: “And let’s be clear if a professional footballer had placed a bet in the way that Craig Williams did, he’d be banned from the game.
“That’s what would happen.”
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Osborne slams Sunak’s betting scandal response ‘totally inadequate’
George Osborne has criticised Rishi Sunak’s response to the Tory betting scandal as “totally inadequeate” and branded the prime minister nor a “real political leader”.
Speaking on his Political Currency podcast the former Conservative chancellor said: “What Rishi Sunak consistently fails to do is take difficult situations and try and turn them, if not to your advantage, at least to try and illustrate some of your strengths.
“When you’re in a room and you’ve got a scandal emerging you’ve got a choice which is to try and muddle through, and it almost always never works.
“You think you can hide away and that’s presumably what Sunak’s thinking.
“Or you try and turn the thing into a moment for you. That’s the kind of raw instinct that I think real political leaders, real strong prime ministers have.”
