UK minister compares election betting scandal to Partygate

AFP |  London

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A senior British minister compared the latest scandal involving Tory candidates accused of betting on the election date to Partygate, a series of Covid-era parties that brought down Boris Johnson.

Housing minister Michael Gove compared the betting allegations to the Partygate scandal in an interview with the Times newspaper on Saturday.

“It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us... That’s the most potentially damaging thing,” said Gove, who is standing down this election after 14 years as an MP.

“That was damaging at the time of Partygate and is damaging here”, he added.

Prime minister Johnson was forced from office in 2022 following public anger at the revelations of parties held in Downing Street when the rest of the country was under lockdown during the pandemic.

Now another senior Conservative Party figure has been caught up in the latest scandal.

The party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, has taken a leave of absence, following claims he placed bets on the timing of the election, the PA news agency reported Saturday.

Mason is being investigated by betting regulators, accused of placing dozens of bets on the election date according to the Times.

He is the fourth Tory figure to be implicated in the affair. Political bets are allowed in the UK, including on the date of elections, but using insider knowledge to do so is against the law.