What's happening with the Gambling watchdog investigation?

The Met Police have clarified their situation

What about No 10 and the Politicos - because of necessity that's where the source trail started

I know, experienced it in 1970 - ‘’go back home now Gwynoro, Harold is announcing on Monday (27th) a General Election for June 18)’’

Could there possibly be some dragging of feet going on over the general election betting scandal to avoid any further embarrassment to the PM and No10 before July 4?

One of #RishiSunak's protection team has already been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and the #MetPolice have confirmed that a further 6 officers have been identified as having placed bets on the timing of the elections.

On the political side it is also known that his former Parliamentsry Secretary, 4 other Tory election candidates/HQ staff and a Tory Senedd member in Wales are under investigation by the gambling watchdog over alleged bets on the timing of the General Election. Intriguingly Sunak’s PPS ( Craig Williams) and the Tory Senedd member (Russell George) represent the same constituency (Montgomeryshire).

However the #GamblingCommission are endeavouring to find out who else knew or were told in advance when the general election would be held.

By the very nature of things extensive discussions and analyses would have been going on for some time prior to May 22nd the day the PM announced that July 4 was to be election day. He did not just wake up on morning of 22nd and at the spur of the moment decided ‘tell you what think I’ll hold an election in six weeks time - July 4’

It’s not how it works. So people on the inside obviously knew and were in the loop. But the question is who were they and did they pass on the date via the old pals network with a nod and a wink!

In an attempt to get it clarified reported that the Gambling Commission has spoken to Rishi Sunak’s chief of staff (Liam Booth-Smith) to try and clarify who within the PMs circle at No10 and Tory HQ could have known about the date of the General Election before it was announced. Sunak has so far refused to publicly reveal who was in on the decision.

So issue now is could there possibly be more than just the 6 Tory politicos already identified in on all this. In fact there are reports in the media suggesting the final number could be up to 15 election candidates/officials. But this has not been confirmed yet.

As always time will tell.

For clarification the Gambling watchdog role is focused on allegations of cheating, while the Police are investigating could there be additional offences involved such as misconduct in public office - a more serious charge.

Tell you how I know how it works

In 1970 I was Labour candidate for Carmarthen and the Research and Communications Officer for Labour in Wales then based in Charles Street, Cardiff.

The Regional Secretary Emrys Jones, his two assistants and me were first given the nod that after the good results for the party in the May 1969 local elections, PM Harold Wilson was going to call a General Election for sometime mid June - but we were not given the exact date then. However this enabled us to book advertising hoarding sites, start preparing election material and alerting the 36 constituency party officers to start their own preparations.

On May 24-26 the Welsh party held its annual conference in Llandudno and I travelled up on the Friday. Later the evening of the 24th the General Secretary of the party, Ron Hayward, was present and he pulled me on one side - ‘’go back home now Gwynoro, Harold is announcing on Monday (27th) a General Election for June 18)’’ . The party regarded Carmarthen as a must win seat in Wales.

I immediately rang Ivor Morris, the party’s agent in the constituency asking him to call the Executive Committee to an urgent meeting for the Sunday afternoon to finalise our campaign. So at least 30 plus party members in Carmarthen were told the election date before Wilson actually announced it on the Monday. Daresay many others in key marginal seats across the country would have had the same inside information passed on to them.

So definitely it is more than highly probable a lot of Tory people would have known before hand of Sunak’s July 4 general election date - most certainly his PPS Craig Williams, the two Tory HQ officers that have been named by the gambling watchdog and one or two others inside No 10.

Its what they did with the information that matters.