Sunak’s Tories fear UK election betting scandal may expand and bury them
- So far, four prominent Conservative Party figures have been accused of wagering on the UK election date
Rishi Sunak’s chances of avoiding a landslide defeat in the UK general election dwindled further as his governing Conservative Party struggled to contain revelations that several of the prime minister’s close aides placed bets on the date of the vote.
There are serious concerns at the top of the Tory party that other prominent figures may be drawn into the affair, with just 10 days to go until the election, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The scandal – dubbed Gamble-gate in the British media – is threatening to dominate the remainder of the campaign at a time when Sunak’s Tories badly need to make up ground.
Opinion polls show Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is firmly on course for a historic victory in the July 4 vote, while internal Tory polling suggests the opposition party could win a parliamentary majority as high as 200 seats.