Ex-UK lawmaker pleads guilty to cheating in election betting scandal
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
LONDON (AP) — A former Conservative lawmaker who used insider knowledge to place wagers on the date that then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would call a U.K.-wide election two years ago pleaded guilty Monday to cheating at gambling.
Craig Williams, who was Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary, was one of more than a dozen people charged in the betting scandal over the timing of Britain’s last general election.
Election gambling is legal in the U.K. and betting on the date the prime minister will set is a popular wager. It’s legal for lawmakers to bet, but not if they rely on inside knowledge.
Sunak surprised many in May 2024 when he set the election date for July 4 when the conventional wisdom was that he would wait until the fall.
The announcement itself was a fiasco as Sunak was drenched in a downpour outside 10 Downing St. and word quickly spread that a handful of people with connections to the party had placed suspiciously timed bets. Six weeks later, the Labour Party swept the Conservatives out of office after 14 years of rule.
Williams, 41, who was in meetings when the election date was discussed, admitted in Southwark Crown Court that he used confidential information to gamble. He placed three bets between 22.50 ($29.80) and 250 pounds ($331), prosecutors said.
Williams, who lost his reelection bid for his seat in Wales, later admitted he placed a 100-pound ($132) bet on a July election days before the date had been announced.
“I committed an error of judgment, not an offense, and I want to reiterate my apology directly to you,” he said in a video posted on social media in June 2024.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson said three additional charges that Williams denied will be dropped when he is sentenced at a later date.
“He has now accepted by his plea that he used highly sensitive and confidential information to place bets and to profit,” Johnson said.
Other members of the Conservative Party that controlled government at the time and a police officer are among those still facing charges that carry a potential two-year prison term, if convicted.
A dozen defendants pleaded not guilty Monday to cheating at gambling and face trials in September 2027 and January 2028.
The wife of Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind also pleaded guilty to cheating at betting. Amy Hind, 35, is due to be sentenced Oct. 23. A charge against her husband for passing information to his wife was dropped.