The former Conservative MP Craig Williams is among 15 people, including several other senior Tories, charged by the Gambling Commission for alleged cheating connected to bets based on the date of the 2024 UK general election.
Williams was the MP for Montgomeryshire and Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary, but lost the support of the Conservative party after a Guardian story about alleged bets placed on a July election just days before the date was announced.
Among others charged, according to a Gambling Commission statement, was Russell George, a Tory member of the Welsh parliament who represents the same area as Williams did.
Others charged include Laura Saunders, the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West in July, who also lost party support after the investigation emerged; Tony Lee, the Conservatives’ campaigns director, who is married to Saunders; and Nick Mason, who was the Tories’ chief data officer at the time.
Some of the others charged have current or past links to the party.
The Welsh Conservative leader, Darren Millar, said George had been suspended from the Conservative group in the Senedd, which he described as “a neutral act pending the outcome of the justice process”.
Those charged are due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on 13 June 2025, the Gambling Commission said. It added that the investigation had focused on “individuals suspected of using confidential information – specifically advance knowledge of the proposed election date – to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets”.
Such actions are a criminal offence of cheating under section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005, it added.
Claims that Williams and others may have sought to game the betting markets with advance notion of the 4 July date were deeply embarrassing for the Conservatives at the time.
It subsequently emerged that as many as seven Metropolitan police officers were under investigation over bets on the election timing. However, it is understood that only one former officer, Jeremy Hunt, 55, is among the 15 charged.
The others named by the commission were: Simon Chatfield, 51, of Farnham, Surrey, a former chief marketing officer for the Conservative party; Amy Hind, 34, of Loughton, Essex; Anthony Hind, 36, of Loughton, Essex; Thomas James, 38, of Brecon; Charlotte Lang, 36, of Brixton, south London; Iain Makepeace, 47, of Newcastle upon Tyne; Paul Place, 53, of Hammersmith, west London; James Ward, 40, of Leytonstone, east London; and Jacob Willmer, 39, of Richmond, south-west London.
A Conservative spokesperson said any party staff members who had been charged had been suspended from their roles, adding: “These incidents took place in May last year. Our party is now under new leadership and we are cooperating fully with the Gambling Commission.”
The commission has the powers to pursue and prosecute its own investigations over alleged gambling-related offences. The Met police held its own parallel inquiry into claims of betting on the election date, but this was discontinued.
Ellie Reeves, the Labour MP who is chair of the party, said: “This is a very serious development. The British people will expect that anyone found guilty of wrongdoing faces the full force of the law. Kemi Badenoch must make crystal clear that anyone found guilty of using insider information to cheat the system to try to enrich themselves has no place in the Conservative party.”
Around the same time that the allegations first emerged, the then Scotland secretary, Alister Jack, said he had placed three bets on various dates for the election – but said this was done without any knowledge, and that he was not being investigated.
A Labour candidate in the general election was also suspended in connection with betting, but over a separate issue.
Kevin Craig, who was standing for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, apologised for betting that he would not win in the constituency, calling this “a huge mistake”.
Labour said it would return £100,000 he had donated to the party under Keir Starmer’s leadership.
