Posted on: June 29, 2026, 07:29h.
Last updated on: June 29, 2026, 07:29h.
- UK politician Craig Williams admitted using confidential information about the 2024 election date to place a £100 bet before the surprise announcement
- Thirteen co-defendants pleaded not guilty at Southwark Crown Court including senior Conservative Party officials Tony Lee Laura Saunders and Nick Mason
- UK prosecutors allege privileged access to confidential election planning amounted to cheating under the Gambling Act with trials set for 2027 and 2028
An ex-private secretary to former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has pleaded guilty to cheating at gambling in connection with a bet he placed on the timing of the UK’s 2024 general election.
Former Conservative MP Craig Williams (Montgomeryshire) was one of Sunak’s closest aides in the lead up the election. In July 2024, he admitted placing a £100 (US$131) bet at odds of 5/1 that a general election would be called.
That was just days before the prime minister’s surprise announcement that Britons would indeed be heading to the polls.
Williams was one of 15 people charged following an extensive investigation by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) into insider betting on the election date.
These included Tony Lee, then the Conservative Party’s director of campaigns, and his wife, Laura Saunders, who was standing as the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West. The party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, was also charged.
The election announcement was unexpected. In the UK, national elections must be held no more than five years apart, but their timing is otherwise determined by the prime minister.
Thirteen Plead Not Guilty
Thirteen of the 15 pleaded not guilty to cheating at gambling at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday (June 29). The only other guilty plea came from Amy Hind, 35, the wife of the Conservative deputy digital director, Anthony Hind.
The betting scandal was a final nail in the coffin for an already deeply unpopular Conservative government in the last days of the election campaign. The Labour Party went on to secure a landslide victory, sweeping Keir Starmer into Downing Street.
A poll conducted shortly before the election found that one in nine voters said the controversy had changed the way they intended to vote. The survey suggested the affair further undermined public trust in the party’s ability to govern.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC told the court that Williams was “given a privileged position, he was party to a number of meetings in both Downing Street and Conservative headquarters when the date of the general election was discussed.”
“He has now accepted by his plea that he used highly sensitive and confidential information to place bets and to profit,” she added.
Prison Possible
While betting on political outcomes is legal in the UK, such markets are relatively small and closely monitored, particularly when the outcome could be known in advance by a select group of people, as in this case.
Because of the large number of defendants, the case will be split into two trials. The first is scheduled to begin on Sept. 6, 2027, with the second due to start on Jan. 3, 2028.
Betting with insider information constitutes the offence of cheating under Section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005 and carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.
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